An ex landlord of mine is apparently tracking down all the people that lived in a house with me about four years ago. The landlord is alleging that we did 58,000 dollars worth of damage. He is just fishing for money since the local college shut down and he's out of tenants to rip off (in my humble opinion : ) I need to know any programs that can tell me exactly when a photograph was taken, because if I get served with papers I want to be able to prove that he took the pictures more recently than four years ago... We really didn't cause any damage and this guy was a real scumbag (in my humble opinion)and I saw on TV how printers and digital cameras have all this hidden information "underneath" that says when the pictures were actually taken (not the last date modified or moved or whatever, but the actual root of the picture information) What programs can I use to do this, or what command prompts or whatever, I'll do anything I have to. Please help me, you'll be a real hero to someone in need...
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Have you checked the statute of limitations. 4 years is a long time to wait to sue. I'll bet he's passed the statute and won't get zip. Good luck.
Can't help with the picture dates, but it is up to your landlord to prove that the property was left in a state far in excess of what is deemed as degraded through normal wear and tear through normal use. I.e. the property and its contents should have been clearly inventoried showing the condition of everything before you moved in. Then depending on the amount of time you lived there a degree of knocks, marks and some light damage would be expected as normal wear and tear and has to be allowed for. If he has nothing to actually show the condition when you moved in, and also has proof that a copy was made available to you and you agreed to the condition reported, then even if the place was left as a tip, you can't be asked to pay, as it could well have been like that when you started your tenancy and you can’t be expected to make betterment of property. Also if I understand right, you left 4 years ago, in which case, I presume he would have given a deposit back, if so then any damages are normally taken out of deposits, so failing to deduct anything would indicate he was happy with the property when vacated. He should also have to prove that at no time after you moved out, did anyone else have access to the property, such as other tenants, builders or any other workmen etc… as otherwise anyone could also have done damage to the property after you left. In the UK the inventories are normally done by independent clerks, otherwise landlords leave themselves wide open to loosing out if they try and claim, as it is well known that landlord/owners are completely biased in their own favour, and as such can not be relied upon to give a completely true account of evidence in a hearing. They also tend to give crap descriptions of things, i.e. stating there is a pair of curtains, with no description of the condition. If something is noted as just being there but then not described as new, clean or in good condition, then the landlord won’t have a leg to stand on, he’ll have to show it wasn’t damaged and you agreed to the description, not the other way around a court can’t presume something was in good condition just because the landlord says it was. I would inform him you will see him in court, chance are he'll back down, or worst case he'll still have to prove what he says, if it comes down to who the court believes, just make sure it's you. Also if you can show that the place has since been advertised for rental since you left, then you can show that he either considers the property to be perfectly okay to rent out still, in which case what is he moaning about, or show that he does rent the place out in a known crap state, which would back up any claim you made about the condition always being petty poor from when you first moved in. Sorry to waffle - hope it helps
Some programs, like Paint Shop Pro have a tool with an (!) in it that when you click on it when the picture is being viewed, it will show a screen that will give you information about when a photograph was taken. Most of the digital cameras have the information incoded on each of the picture files taken. I shoot with Nikon and a friend shoots with Canon. It is nice when I can go in and give him credit for something he shot even three years ago. I may have taken the same shot as he did, but the exact time and date to the second is usually registered on the file, along with what camera was used. It will even tell you in most cases that the picture was altered as to size and even what date if it was altered in your program. You could make a disk of the proof pictures and they would serve as evidence. If you have to, and you have the program, you can bring up the "evidence" screen and make a screen copy to print out. If you just have film photos, rarely, they have the date printed on the back. The negatives sometimes have a paper tag on the end piece that may give a date, or possibly a code number that you can have the developer trace for you for a date. If a photo was just scanned in, it will only show the date it was scanned. Not enough proof. Should have seen what I did to my contractor when they built my house. I came in each day and took photos. I put some of the photos up on a website and had the national building company see the shoddy workmanship and had them pull out the stuff and re do it. Good luck Tejasmed
Probably should have read closer. He was the one taking the pictures. If this person is presenting digital pictures, they will still have the codes. You may have to demand by court, that the original picture files be downloaded to disk to present as evidence. I re-read a former post and went in to the Fuji site to see all those programs where you can actually change the codes. I seriously think this guy giving you trouble does not have the tech sense to make the changes. There was a great deal of controversy about how easy digital photography can be altered for court cases. Those dates are locked in with the pictures and cannot be altered without one of those special programs. If the picture is altered, normally it will show the date it was altered, but most programs will still show the original date the picture was taken. I ran into an FBI photographer one day and he told me that they were forced to maintain their film lab for forensic evidence because there was so much controversy about digital. Tejasmed
The 'exif' data embedded in the photo will show the original date taken and the specifications of the photo/camera settings. Digital pics are now becoming more admissible as court evidence. If things are as you say - it likely won't even make it to court. If he is relying on those photos as key evidence and there is question as to their validity - it would likely be thrown out. Not sure where you live, but I agree - 4 yrs is a very long time. Have you been served with papers?
