Website Helps Tenants Use Small Claims Court to Recover Their Security Deposit

Jan. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- The most common problem tenants face is unfairly losing their security deposit. A tenant can leave the place clean and undamaged, only to have the landlord keep the entire deposit and claim (falsely) that the tenant trashed the place. Most tenants don’t understand the law or how to use the small claims court system, and so the landlord unjustly keeps their deposit. But this doesn’t need to be the case when a tenant is educated in the law and learns how to present their case in small claims court. Recover Your Security Deposit is a free website - http://www.defeatyourlandlord.com - that helps every tenant understand landlord tenant law and how to present a winning case in small claims court to recover their security deposit.

Recover Your Security Deposit was founded by Larry Cook after his girlfriend, Ms. Frazier, was sued in small claims court for over $12,000 by an unscrupulous landlord who earned extra income by suing tenants as they exited his apartment complexes. Tenants lost hundreds to thousands of dollars to the landlord because they didn’t properly prepare for small claims court. Mr. Cook took the offensive right away and hired an attorney well versed in landlord tenant law so he could properly prepare Ms. Frazier for small claims court. After exhaustive research, he created a presentation folder that his girlfriend presented to the judge in small claims court. The judge didn’t hear testimony in court but rather reviewed the presentation folder and ultimately ordered the landlord to return the entire $2,500 deposit back to Ms. Frazier. She was the first tenant to win in small claims court against the landlord.

Frustrated that the landlord couldn’t be held accountable in court for his unscrupulous behavior because state law doesn’t recognize the landlord tenant relationship as a business relationship, Mr. Cook wrote Recover Your Security Deposit so that tenants in similar circumstances would have a fighting chance in small claims court. He covers two main topics on the website: 1) how to properly break a lease, and 2) how to defend against claims of damages that have been fabricated. The website offers advice to tenants based on his extensive research into the topic as well as legal advice from a prominent tenant rights attorney. He walks the tenant through the process of learning the tenant’s landlord tenant law, gathering and properly organizing evidence, presenting the case in small claims court, and collecting the judgment from the landlord.

Of particular note is Mr. Cook’s development of a presentation strategy for small claims court. Most cases presented in small claims court are decided within a few minutes, and it absolutely behooves the tenant to be completely prepared to deliver a succinct amount of information to the judge in a small amount of time. For example, tenants often argue against the landlord’s lies, when in fact they should have been arguing law, and thus many tenants lose in court due to being sidetracked. Mr. Cook gives a step-by-step overview of exactly how to create a winning presentation folder designed especially for small claims court. For tenants who would like to use Mr. Cook’s actual presentation folder as a template for their own case, a downloadable eBook is available for a nominal fee.

Tenants who have had their security deposit unjustly retained by their landlord have recourse: the Recover Your Security Deposit website and their local small claims court. Proper organization and presentation of their evidence in small claims court is their best course of action to recover a security deposit. Tenants are encouraged to read through the website as early in the process as possible to create a winning strategy. For more information, please visit http://www.defeatyourlandlord.com.

About Larry Cook:
Mr. Cook is an author and video producer living in Los Angeles. Recover Your Security Deposit represents his extensive research and desire to see justice served when dealing with corrupt landlords. He is an advocate of the natural living lifestyle and to that end wrote The Beginner’s Guide to Natural Living - http://www.thenaturalguide.com – and also produces web videos on the natural living topic - see http://www.youtube.com/user/LarryCook333.

Contact:  
Larry Cook
larry@thenaturalguide.com

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Author and Video Producer living in Los Angeles. I share what I've learned about organic food, supplements, shopping at health food stores, detoxification, exercise, natural medicine, holistic dentistry and more. http://www.TheNauralGuide.com