Semisonic9
New Member
Hey guys. I've been lurking for awhile, "gathering intel", but I needed to make a post on this one. It's getting hairy.
I'm a 24-yo college student looking to apply to BDCP in spring or summer, for Fall 2009. My grades are good, no legal problems or drugs, and I'm in pretty good shape. I'm pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. I'm looking primarily at Intel or Computer Warfare.
I see my biggest hurdles as good but not stand-out grades and my financial background. I've been struggling to put myself through school since I turned 20 and I've wrecked my credit pretty good. Nothing too major so far, and I was thinking I could have them cleared up by late spring, but I've run into a roadblock I need some advice on.
I'm in a legal fight with my landlord, and I'm curious what the implications further down the road could be for my BDCP app and security clearance. I'm looking to get a jumping-off point here before I talk to my recruiter about it. The ins and outs of the case are long and boring. I put them in the next post, for those who find the information relevant.
Two separate issues here:
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1) I have a judgement for rent against me for $750 (2 months). The judge threw out any late fees because of the landlord's business practices (see below, if interested). I have put money aside for this, since I always intended to pay the damned rent anyways.
My beef is two-sided. A) I'm not made of money, and I'm going to have to pay this at the same time I'm putting down first/last, security deposit, etc on the new place, plus moving expenses. B) I'm pretty sure the guy is going to keep my security deposit. He's going out of business, and hasn't been returning people's deposits. That's another $300 I'd be out, and I still have to move and put down money on my next place. My only recourse would be to document the house's condition and sue him in small claims, but a) that would take forever, b) there's no real way to enforce payment for such a small amount, and c) any such claim would be against the business, which is already going under due to foreclosures!
As a middle ground, I'm tempted to offer to pay the difference to him out of court. If he sees that it's a choice between nothing and ~$400, I'm guessing he'll go for the $400. Who knows?
In any case, I'm concerned about having this kind of judgement on me while applying. There may be a separate amount for attorney's fees (see below). I believe this would be a separate claim, yet to be filed.
Question: How do small legal judgements weigh in on the BDCP application and Security Clearance processes?
2) If the amount of the legal fees is too high, I may consider filing one of the various stages of bankruptcy or debt protection. I'm mainly subsisting on student loans and government grants atm. I really can't afford to pay this guy a few k in legal fees. I'm honestly not sure how that whole process works, and am just now starting to do my homework on it. I want to stress that this is an extreme, end-of-the-line last resort. I really, really don't want to do that. I like to pay my freaking bills. I would try to negotiate first. But if it does come to pass, then I need to know what I'm looking at.
Question: How does debt arrangement/management or bankruptcy filings affect my apps? Is there one version that's better than others?
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Times suck right now. I'm ticked off because I feel backed into this whole thing. The landlord really is slime. There's an irony here in that I really would have just paid the rent and moved out early if I could have just contacted the guy! I just don't want the stuff I'm going through with this guy to mess up my shot at a Navy commission down the road.
If either issue is a major roadblock to either my BDCP app or my security check, I'd like to learn as much as I can about it and get ahead of any problems now. What can I do? Are these kinds of things waiverable? I have documentation and witnesses, from the case, and I could probably submit some financials.
-S
Background:
Both my ex-girlfriend and I rented from the same guy. After we moved in, we learned more about him from the other tenants. He was kind of a slum-lord. He bought like 6 houses at one time and is in foreclosure on 3-4 of them. He was in foreclosure on her house when he rented out the bedroom to her. He left the house she rented in foreclosure, turned it over to his brother (a partner) and turned off the power/utilities with no warning on a Friday. He actually called in to have it turned off specifically on a friday. In our house, we had no water pressure for two weeks in August before he finally called the water company, and there's an issue with a leaky fridge where the freezer doesn't freeze and the fridge freezes everything.
So he's kind of a crappy landlord anyways. Not that is relevant for the moment. You're not leasing from the guy or anything. I just wanted to fill in the background here.
Legal:
Our legal issue came up when he decided to move into the house I'm currently renting. Of the tenants here at the time, I was the only one not on a month-to-month lease. When I gave heads up via email that my financial aid hadn't come in and asked if I could pay late, he saw his shot. Now, first, it's important to note that I gave the guy 2 weeks heads-up because I intended to borrow the ~$250 to pay the guy from my ex-GF if necessary. Also, this was my first time paying rent to him via mail, so the fact that he wouldn't respond to simple questions like "where do I send the money" was troubling. It really wasn't ever a problem to pay the rent on time. This all came about because he thought he saw a shot to be a ninja and get me out of the house early, at my expense, rather than approach me about moving out early so he could move in. (Probably because he knew I'd insist on pro-rated rent for the 2 weeks the water was out). He stopped responding to emails/phone calls around the 15th of August. On the 1st of September, I received a notice for late rent showing more than double the amount owed (edit- in rent, not late fees. He ignored a previous positive balance)!
Further attempts to contact him via email or phone went unanswered. As soon as legally possible, he filed for eviction. I responded by documenting his business practices (I had tons of emails, the lease, financial records, etc) and filing for a hearing to determine the amount owed. I put aside the money that would normally have gone for rent and awaited a hearing date.
The hearing was yesterday. The judge threw out the late fees and awarded the plaintiff $750 for rent through the end of the month, which is exactly the amount of rent he would have received under other circumstances.
Then I got some unpleasant news. At some point, the landlord had engaged an attorney. Under Florida law, the prevailing party in these lawsuits can file for attorney's fees.
Seriously, I want you to think about this:
-The guy bills me for double the amount owed, ignoring that I'd already paid half the rent ahead of time and violating our verbal agreement to run the lease from the 1st to the 31st, instead of the 20th-19th of each month.
-Doesn't answer phone calls or emails for 2 weeks before or after the notice, and then files an eviction.
-When I respond with the legal remedies available to me, he goes out, finds an expensive attorney, and then tries to stick me with the check!
The attorney talked to me in the hall afterward, and blew some smoke at me about "costing $350 an hour" and "putting 5 hours work into this already". I mentioned that I was a broke 24 year-old college student putting myself through school and that we were debating rent on a room that cost $425 a month. I mentioned that if they filed for a ridiculously high amount of unnecessary legal fees, I would likely have no alternative but to file bankruptcy. At that point he got frustrated and walked off.
Who knows where we are going from here? It was a slick move on the landlord's part to try to stick me with crazy-high legal fees. I have an out, but it's not really one I want to use. I don't want to be that guy.
Also, I could sue the landlord in small claims for my deposit, pro-rated rent for the month of August, and a few other small things, but he's basically judgment proof since his business, a LLC, is going under.
-S
I'm a 24-yo college student looking to apply to BDCP in spring or summer, for Fall 2009. My grades are good, no legal problems or drugs, and I'm in pretty good shape. I'm pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. I'm looking primarily at Intel or Computer Warfare.
I see my biggest hurdles as good but not stand-out grades and my financial background. I've been struggling to put myself through school since I turned 20 and I've wrecked my credit pretty good. Nothing too major so far, and I was thinking I could have them cleared up by late spring, but I've run into a roadblock I need some advice on.
I'm in a legal fight with my landlord, and I'm curious what the implications further down the road could be for my BDCP app and security clearance. I'm looking to get a jumping-off point here before I talk to my recruiter about it. The ins and outs of the case are long and boring. I put them in the next post, for those who find the information relevant.
Two separate issues here:
-----------------------------------------------
1) I have a judgement for rent against me for $750 (2 months). The judge threw out any late fees because of the landlord's business practices (see below, if interested). I have put money aside for this, since I always intended to pay the damned rent anyways.
My beef is two-sided. A) I'm not made of money, and I'm going to have to pay this at the same time I'm putting down first/last, security deposit, etc on the new place, plus moving expenses. B) I'm pretty sure the guy is going to keep my security deposit. He's going out of business, and hasn't been returning people's deposits. That's another $300 I'd be out, and I still have to move and put down money on my next place. My only recourse would be to document the house's condition and sue him in small claims, but a) that would take forever, b) there's no real way to enforce payment for such a small amount, and c) any such claim would be against the business, which is already going under due to foreclosures!
As a middle ground, I'm tempted to offer to pay the difference to him out of court. If he sees that it's a choice between nothing and ~$400, I'm guessing he'll go for the $400. Who knows?
In any case, I'm concerned about having this kind of judgement on me while applying. There may be a separate amount for attorney's fees (see below). I believe this would be a separate claim, yet to be filed.
Question: How do small legal judgements weigh in on the BDCP application and Security Clearance processes?
2) If the amount of the legal fees is too high, I may consider filing one of the various stages of bankruptcy or debt protection. I'm mainly subsisting on student loans and government grants atm. I really can't afford to pay this guy a few k in legal fees. I'm honestly not sure how that whole process works, and am just now starting to do my homework on it. I want to stress that this is an extreme, end-of-the-line last resort. I really, really don't want to do that. I like to pay my freaking bills. I would try to negotiate first. But if it does come to pass, then I need to know what I'm looking at.
Question: How does debt arrangement/management or bankruptcy filings affect my apps? Is there one version that's better than others?
-----------------------------------------------
Times suck right now. I'm ticked off because I feel backed into this whole thing. The landlord really is slime. There's an irony here in that I really would have just paid the rent and moved out early if I could have just contacted the guy! I just don't want the stuff I'm going through with this guy to mess up my shot at a Navy commission down the road.
If either issue is a major roadblock to either my BDCP app or my security check, I'd like to learn as much as I can about it and get ahead of any problems now. What can I do? Are these kinds of things waiverable? I have documentation and witnesses, from the case, and I could probably submit some financials.
-S
Background:
Both my ex-girlfriend and I rented from the same guy. After we moved in, we learned more about him from the other tenants. He was kind of a slum-lord. He bought like 6 houses at one time and is in foreclosure on 3-4 of them. He was in foreclosure on her house when he rented out the bedroom to her. He left the house she rented in foreclosure, turned it over to his brother (a partner) and turned off the power/utilities with no warning on a Friday. He actually called in to have it turned off specifically on a friday. In our house, we had no water pressure for two weeks in August before he finally called the water company, and there's an issue with a leaky fridge where the freezer doesn't freeze and the fridge freezes everything.
So he's kind of a crappy landlord anyways. Not that is relevant for the moment. You're not leasing from the guy or anything. I just wanted to fill in the background here.
Legal:
Our legal issue came up when he decided to move into the house I'm currently renting. Of the tenants here at the time, I was the only one not on a month-to-month lease. When I gave heads up via email that my financial aid hadn't come in and asked if I could pay late, he saw his shot. Now, first, it's important to note that I gave the guy 2 weeks heads-up because I intended to borrow the ~$250 to pay the guy from my ex-GF if necessary. Also, this was my first time paying rent to him via mail, so the fact that he wouldn't respond to simple questions like "where do I send the money" was troubling. It really wasn't ever a problem to pay the rent on time. This all came about because he thought he saw a shot to be a ninja and get me out of the house early, at my expense, rather than approach me about moving out early so he could move in. (Probably because he knew I'd insist on pro-rated rent for the 2 weeks the water was out). He stopped responding to emails/phone calls around the 15th of August. On the 1st of September, I received a notice for late rent showing more than double the amount owed (edit- in rent, not late fees. He ignored a previous positive balance)!
Further attempts to contact him via email or phone went unanswered. As soon as legally possible, he filed for eviction. I responded by documenting his business practices (I had tons of emails, the lease, financial records, etc) and filing for a hearing to determine the amount owed. I put aside the money that would normally have gone for rent and awaited a hearing date.
The hearing was yesterday. The judge threw out the late fees and awarded the plaintiff $750 for rent through the end of the month, which is exactly the amount of rent he would have received under other circumstances.
Then I got some unpleasant news. At some point, the landlord had engaged an attorney. Under Florida law, the prevailing party in these lawsuits can file for attorney's fees.
Seriously, I want you to think about this:
-The guy bills me for double the amount owed, ignoring that I'd already paid half the rent ahead of time and violating our verbal agreement to run the lease from the 1st to the 31st, instead of the 20th-19th of each month.
-Doesn't answer phone calls or emails for 2 weeks before or after the notice, and then files an eviction.
-When I respond with the legal remedies available to me, he goes out, finds an expensive attorney, and then tries to stick me with the check!
The attorney talked to me in the hall afterward, and blew some smoke at me about "costing $350 an hour" and "putting 5 hours work into this already". I mentioned that I was a broke 24 year-old college student putting myself through school and that we were debating rent on a room that cost $425 a month. I mentioned that if they filed for a ridiculously high amount of unnecessary legal fees, I would likely have no alternative but to file bankruptcy. At that point he got frustrated and walked off.
Who knows where we are going from here? It was a slick move on the landlord's part to try to stick me with crazy-high legal fees. I have an out, but it's not really one I want to use. I don't want to be that guy.
Also, I could sue the landlord in small claims for my deposit, pro-rated rent for the month of August, and a few other small things, but he's basically judgment proof since his business, a LLC, is going under.
-S
