We moved into an efficiency temporarily when we moved to MD. The room itself was not terrible, after all what can you expect from a one-room apartment' Yes, the fridge was filthy when we moved in and there was drug paraphernalia hidden in some places, but again what can you expect from a low rent place in that part of town' The office staff played real nice for a while since we handed them wads of cash every month on time. They even put us up in a nice hotel room when our downstairs neighbor committed suicide and the apartments had to be professionally cleaned.

The problems started when we bought a house and moved out in August. The manager claimed that the place had fleas and the carpet stunk from our cats, even though we had two sets of neighbors witness us clean and treat the carpet. When we tried to make phone calls to resolve the problem, the manager tried to pit my husband and I against each other, telling me one thing and him another, etc. What she didn't know was that we started getting smart and being present when each other spoke to her, just telling her that we were alone; therefore catching her in the act. When we called her bluff she refused to speak to us separately, saying that we got our stories "mixed up too much." Since my husband and I were too busy with work, both of us meeting her in person was impossible so we simply ceased all contact.

We waited and waited, and no security deposit ever made its way back to us. After the 30 days were up (how long MD legally gives landlords to give written notice and a list of damages and costs if they are witholding a security deposit) we filed for a small claims court case. (The landlord also surpassed the 45 days that MD legally allows to return a security deposit.) Somehow the manager got wind of it even before papers were served, because a check immediately arrived in the mail for all but $50 of our deposit. There was no explanation, no apology, nothing to go along with it, so we decided to go ahead with the lawsuit for the principle of it.

The manager never told the owner of the property about the lawsuit, and he only found out about it when he started calling my husband and harassing him, threatening to sue us (for what, who knows''). That sure was a funny conversation: my husband saying, "Sue US' Actually Mr. Hill, we are suing YOU! Didn't you get the papers'" The owner got scared and since he knows my husband's boss, he tried everything he could to get the boss involved, telling him to set up a meeting between the three of them, etc. Nevermind that it's none of the boss' business and that he left me out of the plans entirely. Needless to say, we ignored him and pressed on.

We eventually wound up dropping the case, because the look of terror on the property manager's face as we walked into the court room was enough to satisfy me. It was never about the money, it was just to hopefully prevent them from doing this to someone else. The irony is that now we live across the street from the property manager's sister, and we have just got wind that she is spreading malicious rumors about us throughout our neighborhood. I guess it's time to file another lawsuit, this time for slander.

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