Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington

My husband and I are renting a little one bdrm. house in Spanaway Wa. We have always paid our rent by going to Lon Prices' bank and making a deposit into his personal checking account. So we very rarely see our landlord. Unless we need something we'll give him a call. I have our lease with him and a letter of good faith to my husband and myself about all the repairs and maintenance we've done and even some work we've promised to do. Also our painting the house. There was absolutely no paint on these place, we had scraped it to the wood. We had to primer it the house had never been primered. Lon agreed to the amount of $1500.00 because we had to scrape it and we couldn't even spray the body of the house because it had never been primered so we brushed the whole house. And he never wanted us to deduct the whole amount of any work we had done all at once from rent. So in his letter of faith to us he says how we will or are suppost to be getting paid for all we have done for him and still do for him. He did this so there would be some kind of documentation of what improvements we have done to the place and to make sure we got paid but without hurting him too much at one time in the pocket book. Also he said he wanted to make sure that the amounts on all things we've done and amounts on things we still have to do are the right amount and that it is what we had all agreed on when we first discussed all things that would be being done to the propertys. And although I'm happy to have something tangabul that he had typed up and signed and had us sign stating all the hard work we have done. The fact of the matter is it is not noterized. My concern about this is that our landlord Lon M. Price has dyed on Nov. 4th 2010. He has no living relatives that I know of. We found out about his death by two middle aged men on Dec 24, 2010. Knocking at the door telling me about Lon. We asked how he died and one said heart and the other said stroke. They informed us that they no longer wanted us to pay rent to the bank we are to pay it to them. Asked for lease, and about how much we pay. I didn't give them our lease, I said I couldn't fine it, so one of them handed me a piece of paper with an address on it and said send all moneys to this address. They never showed us any thing saying that they are new owners or anything. And I remembered Lon telling me that he owned this and some other propertys and no longer owed anything on any of the properties no morgages either. And one of these two men made a coment on the way out the door and that was. Yeah don't give the band any more money just send it to us ya know we still have to pay the morgage. That doesn't set well with me, so I researched Lons' name and did a background check and all properties came up everything he had ever done with any one. This Dove Reality they were saying they were. Well he did do some business with them but that was years ago. I am thinking there just trying to get the properties from whoever now that Lon has died. I'm not sure what there up to but everything doesn't add up. And then they served me with a three day pay or vacate. Get this it doesn't have our names on it, doesn't have an amount on it and it has the neighbors address on it to occupants at this wrong address apt. B on street 161st. We live on Yakima Street. Now that I've said all that I think what I need to do is file a Mechanic Lien on the two properties here the one I am in and the one on the corner facing 161st. street. The reason being for moneys owed to us. We have done quite a lot of work on both properties especially the house were in. And we had just recently started doing some deductions off are rent, and I also had to purchase a refridgerator I did however deduct that amount off our Decembers rent. But we felt we had to with it being Christmas month and all. So if I am correct in filing a Mechanic Lien, where do I get the forms and exactly could you tell me how I go about doing this. And if you know how much it might cost also. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and get back to me. Sincerly Becky and John


Asked on 1/27/11, 6:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Charles Cruikshank Cruikshank Law Office-Since 1975

You may already be too late to file the mechanic's or other liens. If a probate proceeding or case has been opened for your landlord, you have to quickly file and serve a creditor's claim as required by law or you will be unable to collect as a matter of law. The time for filing a creditor�s�s claim is very short after a probate case is opened by a deceased person�s executor or personal representative. Immediately consult with a lawyer and take all of the dates that events have happened and all of the paperwork that you have about this situation with you for the lawyer.

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Answered on 1/27/11, 1:50 pm


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