Landlord Trouble from Afar

[DivadeSade]

Greetings all...

I've been searching on the site for a similar situation as to not irritate anyone with a possible 'duplicate' post, but came up empty...here goes.

Back in January 2008, I signed a 1-year lease for a studio apartment in Taipei. January 2009 came and went, without any new contract. I kept paying monthly, and all was fine. The apartment began having issues (backed up pipes causing my bathroom to flood, broken washing machine, etc) which the landlord(s)--a couple--were unwilling to handle. I had to resort to withholding rent before he finally responded. We mutually decided to be rid of each other in March 2010; I had begun looking for a new place, and they had asked a friend to request me to move (they spoke no English, and although my Chinese is fine, they just wouldn't contact me directly). Long story short, they claimed I didn't notify them of my intent to move, and they took my keys when I was only about 50% moved out.

We met 4 months later to try to negotiate a settlement; she had found out where I worked out and brought police to the gym. They just sat there on the curb and eventually left. I know the old tricks, and my friend smoothed things over. During the next meeting, she refused to comp me for the items I forfeited. I paid her an initial sum, but nothing afterwards. She's been calling my friend nonstop and is now threatening legal action. They have a copy of my old passport, but I now have a new one.

I left the country in May 2011 for Hong Kong. I won't be living or working in Taiwan again, but my fiancee is Taiwanese and we DO plan on visiting our friends there. What can she actually DO (she IS a bit unbalanced) and will it affect my being able to visit Taiwan for short weekends? She simply refuses to communicate with me directly, and my friend, a Taiwanese woman, has had enough with her but also thinks I should settle somehow. I disagree, but I'm sure what acting this loony can actually take. Any advice would be extremely helpful, as we were hoping to visit in late September.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

Knock up a list with estimated values of all the items you 'forfeited'. Present it to her together with an accusation of theft and threaten to sue her for the value + damages (time you had to take to replace them etc.).

She should back off - you both call it quits and never contact each other again.

If she WAS going to sue you she'd only be able to sue you through the civil courts, which wouldn't affect your ability to visit. I'd be surprised if she kept up her antics knowing you'd left, anyway.

[sandman]

Bollocks to suing! She stole your stuff. She's a thief. That's not suing, that's criminal proceedings.

[Eiger John]

How did they manage to take away your keys when you were only 50% moved out? Most moving companies I know are pretty fast about packing -- a bit too fast if a bottle of cognac I once had could've said anything about it.