Robert L Dodge Jr. Robert E Dodge Bobby Dodge stole $2k from my wife and I Seal Harbor Maine

I simply put your facts out there and answered your questions.  Now to the rest:

...he rented that place out within a few days of us cancelling and removed the ad off Craigslist.  Is it legal, do you think, to rent out an apartment that someone else signed the lease to already?  So what you are saying is you cancelled the lease and then he found new tenants within a couple of days and then removed the ad, right?  It's a stupid question to ask because you just said you cancelled the lease and he found new tenants within a few days of you cancelling the lease.  The question you asked never happened.

Hm....I could have simply gone down there with the lease and had the police kick out the new tenants, right? But that would have been pretty mean.  Not really.  But then as you said, you cancelled the lease before the replacement tenants were found.  Had you kicked them out, then you might be on the hook for criminal trespassing.

....do you believe it is ethical to take $2k from folks that don't have much, for absolutely doing nothing? Because they signed a piece of paper based on your misrepresenting yourself to them.  Boo h*o Joel....seriously.  The fact you don't have much money is irrelevant.  Based on what you wrote, yes that would be considered both legal and ethical.  The truth is you were supposed to occupy the residence you leased.  But like you said, you cancelled the lease, so you lose the deposit.  You committed an unethical act and a civil wrong.  You breached your contract by cancelling the lease you signed.  Remember this statement:  We contacted him and he said, he did not even know us and it was not even his property.  Once you cancelled the lease, he doesn't know you from the guy down the street.

There's a thing called Karma, which involves higher laws.  Karma is a two-way street Joel.  Next time, don't breach your contracts and you won't be out money.

The reality is this:  If you really thought this was a con and it's possible he may have been trying to rent the same space to 2 different people, then you should have gone through with the lease without cancelling.  You would have forced his hand, and if the property wasn't his to rent, then you could have either sued him for specific performance, OR to get your money back, and land him in jail for fraud.  But you admit to cancelling the lease.  The minute you did that, you basically gave him the legal right to keep your money.

Jim, just to be clear, he rented that place out within a few days of us cancelling and removed the ad off Craigslist. Is it legal, do you think, to rent out an apartment that someone else signed the lease to already?

Hm....I could have simply gone down there with the lease and had the police kick out the new tenants, right? But that would have been pretty mean. 

But even if some all-star lawyer could figure out how to make this "legal"... do you believe it is ethical to take $2k from folks that don't have much, for absolutely doing nothing? Because they signed a piece of paper based on your misrepresenting yourself to them.

There's a thing called Karma, which involves higher laws. These landlords are clearly mentally ill based on everything they have said and done so far. I wish them a speedy recovery.

Yeah, this is not a ripoff.  You clearly signed a rental agreement - you admit to that.  You provided a deposit to the landlord - you stipulated to that as well.  Your wife gets a creepy vibe (hilarious) and you decide to cancel your lease? 

No, it doesn't work like that.  If you want to blame someone for losing $2,000, then blame your wife.  After all, you toured the house, you found the residence to be satisfactory enough that you signed an agreement with the landlord, and then your wife decided because she NOW didn't trust the landlord, that you would breach the agreement, and your wife used the old "thought he was a creep excuse?"  The ability to assess trust in a landlord happens BEFORE you sign an agreement, not after.

There is nothing in any lease agreement you will ever sign that will allow you to cancel a lease agreement because (a) you didn't trust the landlord, or (b) the landlord is a creep.  Lease agreements are contracts and if you cancel the agreement without the permission of the landlord, then you are in breach of your contract.

but he said ok once he rents it out to someone else he'd return the money. That was already a bit outrageous but we accepted.  Let's be really clear:  He doesn't have to return the funds.  His OK does not mean he has to return the funds.  His OK simply means at this point, at least based on your words, that he won't enforce the entire agreement against you and will pay you when he receives a $2,000 deposit from the new tenant. 

However, I would not count on it.  Most landlords would sue you for the lost rent between the time the lease started and when new tenants finally moved in, and the court would have no problem with that.  If that takes 6 months, then guess what?  You are also out the 6 months of rent.

At this point, you are out your deposit money thanks to your wife.  If he does manage to return the deposit once a new tenant moves in, then you're pretty fortunate.  Otherwise, there is a lesson here for you and your wife.  Do NOT enter into contracts unless you are absolutely sure you will comply with all of the terms.  If there is even a chance you won't comply, then don't.

Ok, "Tess" -- you have rented from them before? Really. That's so funny, because you seem to know a million details that nobody but Anne Dodge would know. 

I didn't call your son 100 times. I call him maybe 10 times trying to get your phone #. Now, I've got you right here, so I don't need your #. Thanks for that. 

And btw, whether I called him 10 times or not, does not give him the right to threaten to kill me. He may be in jail soon as a result. That was his decision. 

The marital issues between my wife and I are absolutely unrelated to the question of the $2k that you and your husband stole from us. I don't make a ton of money on Amazon, and you and your husband are at least 15x more wealthy than my wife and I based on public records. 

I have a simple question for you: is it good karma to take $2,000 from a young couple and give them absolutely nothing in return? How is this different from stealing (even if you could make an argument that a contract makes it legal)?

Your husband expressed some creepy interest in my wife which she felt uncomfortable with for a while. It was not until after I put down the deposit into your account that she decided it was more than just her imagination. I was there and I also saw this, so I agree that she was right about him..

The fact that he lied to us and said he would give the money back, but then claimed to not KNOW who we were, and then claimed to not have anything to do with the property, is something you have failed to explain...

Anyway, keep your $2k of stolen money, watch your son go to jail, and I hope you enjoy your life with your whole family's reputation ruined forever.

Was very weird, he was going to live in Bangor and she was going to live in Seal Habor, and they just got married and they are not going to live together????? How strange????

All they do is lie and make up stuff, he makes a ton of money selling stuff on Amazon but they didnt have a car they had to rent a car, so how they are going to see each other?Rent a car every weekend?

Oh she had to have the house, she was going to do a bakery out of the kitchen, signed the lease, and then a few days later, oh the kitchen is too small we dont want the house, what!?@! no you signed a lease, you need to pay for each month that the house is not rented, you dont get to break a lease and not get a penatly, most people charge a penatly fee for breaking a lease early which is usually equal to 2 to 4 months of your normal rent amount.

Just because someone owns a few houses doesnt mean they are rich, wow, you sound really dumb, do you have any idea how expensive the up keep of a house is, along with taxes and insurance and then have it not rented out because you signed a lease and then didnt follow threw.

Talk about creepy and weird, sounds like your wife has a problem, why else would she want to live in another town from you, 50 miles apart, maybe someone needs to contact immigration on you two, sounds pretty weird to me, why would you both have your own houses to live in, just married, doesnt make sense. I think someone told you how it would look, with one of you living in Bangor and the other one living in Seal Harbor and you freaked out and changed your minds????

Ive rented from the people in question and they were nice to me and very honest and when I moved out I gave my 30 days notice, after my lease expired and got my sec deposit back.

If I did what you did, broke my lease, I wouldnt be expecting anything back, your lucky you didnt have to pay the entire lease amount to them, think before you leap, no one forced you to sign a lease, no one forced you to give them money for the rent, they did there part, you didnt follow through and then expect everyone to say oh its ok, you can break your lease, ha ha what word do you live in!

If your wife didnt trust him then why in the world did you sign a lease and put money in their account, sounds like you two need to grow up and stop acting like children.

And then you called him and his son, over and over like 100 times, starting at 930 pm at night, I wonder why he got mad at you, do you realize what you did is illegal, hmm sound childish?

All you do is lie and act like a little kid, grow up!

Karma will catch up to with all your lies, better watch out for the immigration catching up to you! They can see that you are quite the liar, and why would you two live 50 miles apart? smells fishy to me.

I just sent a tip to the Sarasota Police regarding his son. His son apparently owns the house that I put a deposit on, so it makes sense that I'm calling him to figure out what's up. I asked him for his mom's # because the money is in her account. Her name is Anne Dodge. Well, she claimed it was Anne, but according to public records it's Ann? https://www.mylife.com/ann-dodge/e183826659060

Not sure if Ann really knows what is up with her husband, but I kind of suspect she does...

Anyway so Robert E Dodge Jr. threatened to come up here and put a bullet in my head if I call him one more time. I cursed him and said he's welcome to try! And I called him some more times after that, just to see if he will follow up with his threat.

What do you think a deposit is for? You backed out of the agreement after giving them a deposit. In most cases when you put a deposit down it is  NON-REFUNDABLE. So the question becomes what did you sign? You did sign a deposit agreement BEFORE you handed over the money...right?

If you did, then you are entitled to exactly what is stated in the terms of the agreement. If it states that the deposit is non-refundable then you aren't entititled to a single dime. If it states it is refundable, it will list the conditions.  You are entitled to it back as long as the conditions are met, including you having proof that you gave him the $2,000.

If you met those conditions and you did not receive it back then you may have a valid claim. In which case you may need to take him to Small Claims court to recover your deposit. In most jurisdictions for this amount of money you can do this without attornies and for under $100.

If you didn't sign one then you most likely just handed over $2,000 that you will never see again. Not because they are scamming you, but because you put the deposit down and then decided to back out.

I do think I could take him to small claims court and probably win the money back. But, I'd like to see first if I can expend less work and simply have him return the money out of repentance. 

It must suck to be known as a scammer by anyone who googles your name. 

Again, I could understand if he were broke and he really needed this cash, but he's rich. What is he scamming poor people for?