Landlord Tenant News: Woman accused of bilking would-be tenants. Chinese drywall dilemma reaches renters. Rent: no longer be a 4 letter word. Legalizing lofts in NY.

Landlord Tenant News: Woman accused of bilking would-be tenants. Chinese drywall dilemma reaches renters. Rent: no longer be a 4 letter word. Legalizing lofts in NY.

Our landlord ran off with our deposit more than 6 months ago. We try and call him but no luck. One big problem, we don’t even have a copy of the lease! We do however have quite a few witnesses who can attest to us living there. We’d like to not go to small claims court. Any ideas?

Is it true that 71% of all tenants have been ripped off in some amount by their landlords? I understand my readers may be biased, yet it is clear from my experience and news accounts that landlords steal tenants’ security deposits.

The law provides that you should be able to get your deposit back if you leave the unit in substantially the same condition as you found it absent normal wear and tear. So how do you prove that?