Sabrina
Fredericksburg,#2Author of original report
Fri, March 25, 2005
In November of 2004, we received a court order for us to have appeared in court a month earlier for a landlord/tenant pay for damages done to the townhouse. Steve Osburn already kept our $1500 deposit and then took us to court for an additional $3500. Instead of having the subpeona sent to our current residence, he sent the subpeona to the residence that we had rented from him nearly 2 months earlier. We moved out August 29, 2004. He sent us to court in September. He was fully aware of where we lived but still sent the subpeona to the address where we no longer rented from him. By the court, tenants are allowed to dispute the charges within 2 weeks of the first court appearance. We received a letter from Steve Osburn a month later showing us a copy of the subpeona and a written note torn out of a notebook that he was going to place this on our credit reports if we did not pay. The letter was addressed to our current residence. This shows as proof that he was aware of where we lived and lied to the courts about our address. He waited for the time for us to rebuttal so we wouldn't have a chance. If we do not rebuttal then the landlord has all rights and automatically win the case. Where is the tenant rights in situations like this? We are not the only ones. With extensive research we have found other tenants that they try to drain money out of. We have rented before so we knew what steps to take. We got an estimate of what we should take care of and it did not total $5000. He has had the townhouse totally remodeled. We had carpet that cost less than a $1 a foot. The contract clearly states that tenants are not responsible for painting and he has charged us for that as well. We have been checking on the rental of the townhouse we rented from him. He cannot hold a tenant for even 6 months before they are trying to get out. Steve Osburn was well aware of us leaving on August 29, 2004 and still had the papers sent to that address we rented from him in September. Why would you send it to the address we no longer live at? He wants money and he knew he would have lost against us. We have too much proof against him. We are in search for a lawyer who would be happy to take this case. I have names and numbers of tenants and also Steve Osburn's maintenance man who he is also suing for $50,000. This is a repetitive act by Steve and Linda Osburn. Again they own Investor's Advantage Realty. The neighborhood where he rents out townhouses is in Fredericksburg, VA in Brookwood. His townhouses are on Corey's Way. He owns at least 3 of them and all tenants had problems with getting him to keep up with the properties.
Sabrina
Fredericksburg,#3Author of original report
Tue, August 24, 2004
I told Mr. Osburn to not contact me at work that we will make contact in the evenings, he proceeded to call me four more times after that discussion. He is also sharing information on the case he has with another tenant and tries to tell me about while I am work. I find this harrassing and not of my best interest while I am trying to work.