What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? DC
On 5/31/15, my horrible, no-good tenants finally vacated my property. I did a final walk-through for them, as required by law, and noted several things, which they opted not to fix. During the walk-through, I also noted that the hallway floor (solid hardwood) seemed "a little funny." Well, not two days later, when I showed up after the termination of the lease to start remediating all the damage they had done to the property, I discovered that, through negligence of basic tenant maintenance (things required explicitly in their lease), they had caused severe water damage to that hardwood floor. I ended up having to replace about 80 square feet of flooring. Anyone who knows hardwood flooring knows that wasn't a cheap repair.
Anyway, after I sent the security deposit settlement, detailing all the repairs made to return the property to move-in condition, including invoices and photos, within the time limits and by certified mail as required, the former tenant emailed me a couple days later and said that she was going to sue to recover the costs of replacing the hardwood flooring, since I didn't "prove" that they caused that damage. I thought my pictures, descriptions of work, and invoices were pretty clear, but I just shrugged and told myself "whatever, I have my proof, I was going to have to sue for the repairs beyond the deposit anyway, so let her file and I can then just counterclaim rather than going through the initial paperwork myself. Saves me $5 over the initial filing fee." In her email, she did not mention any of the other repairs/remediation, but I still don't have an official complaint (over a week on), so I don't know if she'll try for anything else.
Fast-forward a week, I had my contractor in *my* house to give me a couple quotes on renovations I want to make, and he said "yeah, I got a call from someone about that flooring replacement in your other place. Must have been your insurance company. She wanted to know how the water damage happened and was really rude to me! I just told her I didn't know how the water damage happened, that you had all the photos and the invoice, and she should contact you." After I played a voicemail from the former tenant, we confirmed that the former tenant called the contractor "digging" on that repair. No, my contractor doesn't know how the water damage happened, it was another service provider who discovered the source of the water damage (and cleaned the water up, and I was explicit as to how it happened in the settlement).
And, if you've read all that, the questions. 1. Apparently the former tenant said something about calling the contractor to testify. I know she can do that, but does anyone know if I can introduce evidence that he was not contracted for services until after the water infiltration was remedied? I found the source of the water on 6/1, I didn't contract him to replace the floor until 6/13. I can prove that, as well as that the water infiltration was remedied on 6/1. Also, since DC requires mediation and notice of subpoenas before the first hearing in SCC, can/should I move to have him disqualified as a witness if her complaint is about how the water infiltration happened, since I can demonstrate he didn't know? 2. Should I subpoena the servicer who found the source of the water? I have photos of the active water infiltration as well as what caused it, and I don't want to put a good, nice service provider out, but I also don't want to lose because a magistrate calls it a he said-she said case when I have disinterested parties that witnessed how the damaged happened. I suppose I'm willing to burn that bridge...I can find others to provide that same service, if needed, in the future. I'm less willing to put my contractor through the wringer, since a good contractor who will do small-ish jobs is VERY hard to find!
On 5/31/15, my horrible, no-good tenants finally vacated my property. I did a final walk-through for them, as required by law, and noted several things, which they opted not to fix. During the walk-through, I also noted that the hallway floor (solid hardwood) seemed "a little funny." Well, not two days later, when I showed up after the termination of the lease to start remediating all the damage they had done to the property, I discovered that, through negligence of basic tenant maintenance (things required explicitly in their lease), they had caused severe water damage to that hardwood floor. I ended up having to replace about 80 square feet of flooring. Anyone who knows hardwood flooring knows that wasn't a cheap repair.
Anyway, after I sent the security deposit settlement, detailing all the repairs made to return the property to move-in condition, including invoices and photos, within the time limits and by certified mail as required, the former tenant emailed me a couple days later and said that she was going to sue to recover the costs of replacing the hardwood flooring, since I didn't "prove" that they caused that damage. I thought my pictures, descriptions of work, and invoices were pretty clear, but I just shrugged and told myself "whatever, I have my proof, I was going to have to sue for the repairs beyond the deposit anyway, so let her file and I can then just counterclaim rather than going through the initial paperwork myself. Saves me $5 over the initial filing fee." In her email, she did not mention any of the other repairs/remediation, but I still don't have an official complaint (over a week on), so I don't know if she'll try for anything else.
Fast-forward a week, I had my contractor in *my* house to give me a couple quotes on renovations I want to make, and he said "yeah, I got a call from someone about that flooring replacement in your other place. Must have been your insurance company. She wanted to know how the water damage happened and was really rude to me! I just told her I didn't know how the water damage happened, that you had all the photos and the invoice, and she should contact you." After I played a voicemail from the former tenant, we confirmed that the former tenant called the contractor "digging" on that repair. No, my contractor doesn't know how the water damage happened, it was another service provider who discovered the source of the water damage (and cleaned the water up, and I was explicit as to how it happened in the settlement).
And, if you've read all that, the questions. 1. Apparently the former tenant said something about calling the contractor to testify. I know she can do that, but does anyone know if I can introduce evidence that he was not contracted for services until after the water infiltration was remedied? I found the source of the water on 6/1, I didn't contract him to replace the floor until 6/13. I can prove that, as well as that the water infiltration was remedied on 6/1. Also, since DC requires mediation and notice of subpoenas before the first hearing in SCC, can/should I move to have him disqualified as a witness if her complaint is about how the water infiltration happened, since I can demonstrate he didn't know? 2. Should I subpoena the servicer who found the source of the water? I have photos of the active water infiltration as well as what caused it, and I don't want to put a good, nice service provider out, but I also don't want to lose because a magistrate calls it a he said-she said case when I have disinterested parties that witnessed how the damaged happened. I suppose I'm willing to burn that bridge...I can find others to provide that same service, if needed, in the future. I'm less willing to put my contractor through the wringer, since a good contractor who will do small-ish jobs is VERY hard to find!