Hi all,

Well, just posting this here as I figure someone may have some input... my wonderful sister and her gf, both amazingly, eminently good people, rented space in a house in Asbury Park last summer. They paid a security deposit of $1500. While they were there, they told me how great and sweet their landlord was. Once they moved out (after a summer of being absolutely model tenants, and leaving no damage or problems in their wake), the guy showed his true colors. They had to make request after request for their deposit; these were first met with ultra-polite, reassuring "check is in the mail" responses; then lies and obfuscation; then completely ignoring phone calls and emails.

So- they took him to court (a laborious, draining, frustrating feat). And won. However...

"Well, you know we have the judgment in our favor....then monmouth county assigned a court officer who is supposed to help us collect the money. this jerk has done absolutely NOTHING in 8 weeks. We call him every two weeks and have exactly the same conversation, in which he says he needs more time, and asks us if ____ has any tenants (we don't know, still...). literally the same exact conversation. he does nothing.

so now we are requesting that it be recorded at the state level. it will be taken out of the hands of monmouth county court and ____ will not be able to sell any property in NJ until he pays us. also hurts his credit."

So, they're taking the next logical step, and we'll see what pans out from that... and I realize things are very different from state to state... but I just wanted to see if anyone else here has had a similar situ, and could make any recommendations of further/added (legal, above-board) actions to help light a fire under this idiot's ass and get them their money back sooner.

Thanks in advance!!

ughh. fucking new jersey.

I own a property management company here in California but the laws will be different.

With a judgement and a court order can they garnish his wages? You could hire an aggressive collection agency but you'll have to split the money with them. You can probably put a lien on his property but he probably wouldn't care.

Wage garnishment is an interesting thought, Henry, and I appreciate it; I'll suggest it to my sis. I'm sure they won't want to hire an agency- they spent enough time and money (including trips from Syracuse, where they're living now, back to NJ for the court dates) dealing with this already.

I thought the courts could cease assets to pay lawsuit settlements if the plaintiff was found liable and cannot pay out of pocket? My suggestions would be talking to the local teamsters or Hell's Angels. They can both be helpful in negotiating payment plans.

Believe me, it's crossed my mind...

Yeah, I wonder what they could have done in terms of asset seizure; probably not likely, as it's a "small" sum...