Landlord threatens to sue Us

Hi, I would like to ask advice. What happened is, we terminated our 1 year lease and cut it short for 5 months and we asked our landlord to refund our deposit since our lease contract does not have any clause regarding "pre-termination". The landlord refused to give our deposit back ( worth 15,000 ) claiming that we violated the contract for terminating our lease and leaving the apartment untidy. Also since we did not lived in the apartment for almost 2 months a cat entered and died inside, which we cleaned but there is still remnant of smell. Now he is using it against us, that's why we went to file a complaint in the barangay.

He did not appear to any of the hearings and he challenged us to file the case in small claims court. We are just waiting for the CFA from the barangay before we do that. Now we reported him in the City Hall for not having a business permit and not issuing official receipt. That's the time that he threaten to sue us for Animal cruelty regarding the dead cat found in the apartment. He accused us that we killed the cat when in fact we weren't even in the apartment for almost 2 months. Now what can we do in case he sue us for animal cruelty, we would like to avoid any litigation as much as possible since we cannot afford a lawyer and we will not also qualify for a PAO Lawyer. Thank you, hope someone can help for what course of action we should do next.

Hi, I would like to ask advice. What happened is, we terminated our 1 year lease and cut it short for 5 months and we asked our landlord to refund our deposit since our lease contract does not have any clause regarding "pre-termination". The landlord refused to give our deposit back ( worth 15,000 ) claiming that we violated the contract for terminating our lease and leaving the apartment untidy. Also since we did not lived in the apartment for almost 2 months a cat entered and died inside, which we cleaned but there is still remnant of smell. Now he is using it against us, that's why we went to file a complaint in the barangay.

He did not appear to any of the hearings and he challenged us to file the case in small claims court. We are just waiting for the CFA from the barangay before we do that. Now we reported him in the City Hall for not having a business permit and not issuing official receipt. That's the time that he threaten to sue us for Animal cruelty regarding the dead cat found in the apartment. He accused us that we killed the cat when in fact we weren't even in the apartment for almost 2 months. Now what can we do in case he sue us for animal cruelty, we would like to avoid any litigation as much as possible since we cannot afford a lawyer and we will not also qualify for a PAO Lawyer. Thank you, hope someone can help for what course of action we should do next.

Just let him file. Refute the allegations once his complaint is received. Proceed with the filing of the small claims case and reporting him for conducting a business without a permit.

@nicksterwolf
if he sues you, then just attend the hearing and explain your side. unless he fabricates his proof, it will be difficult to prove the allegations against you.