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So here's the set-up. Last summer, I was renting a condo from (at the time) a nice little old lady in Bremerton Washington. For whatever reason, she freaked out and broke my lease to sell the property. I wasn't all that interested in the hassle, so I rolled over and expected to get my deposit back and carry on smartly. Who wants to live somewhere they are not wanted anyway?

She then proceeded to cook up the most ridiculous list of trumped up "charges" to knock my depost down from $800 to a little over $200. I suspect that she didn't keep the money in excrow as required, and balked when she realized she was supposed to cough it up.

I sent her a letter detailing exactly how I disputed the charges, and stated that I intended to apply legal pressure if I didn't hear back from her to reach a settlement. The letter was sent certified return receipt etc. etc. She refused to accept delivery. When the letter was returned to me by the post office, unclaimed and unopened I filed in small claims court in King county (Seattle) because I am required to file in the county in which she resides, not where the property is located. This is a royal pain in my backside because King county is a two hour ferry ride and commute from where I live at.

There was an initial misunderstanding about a return of service form, and even though she admitted she had been properly served, the judge assigned a new date so that I could rectify the paperwork problem. I finally made it to the new court date, and because I was 100% in the right, and am a smart young sailor, I had the evidence in order to back this up. I won the judgement less some minor fees for misc. B/S that comes from moving out of a rental. Because I'm a nice guy, I agreed to give her 90 days to pay vs. 30 days as per the court.

Fast forward to today... It's been 120 days and change. I haven't heard or received anything from the evil hag. I started looking at the legal requirements for me to file a lien, and garnish her, but it's hideously complex. I'm getting married in 2 months, work in a military prison for 12 hours a day, and besides it's salmon fishing season. I don't want to waste anymore of my time. Why is it so difficult to get money that was mine in the first place?

Does anyone in Washington have experience with this? Advice? Monday I'm going to contact a lawyer about this. Better to get less and pay a legal eagle than take a bath on the whole affair and let this evil old bag get away with screwing over a good clean responsible tenant. I'm so getting out of the Navy and buying a house next year!

Thanks for listening,
Micah