Landlord Got Kicked Out Of Her Home, So She Illegally Locked Me Out And Claimed I Was Never A Tenant

I’m preparing for my first small claims court hearing in Washington, DC and I’m looking for general advice on what to expect and how to present my case.

I filed a claim for damages after my landlord/sublessor locked me out of the apartment without a court order and claimed I was never a tenant.

Location: Washington, DC

I have:

• A signed lease
• Receipts for prorated rent and a security deposit
• Photos of the apartment while I was living there
• Text messages discussing rent
• Payment records showing monthly payments used as rent
• Audio recordings where the living arrangement is discussed and acknowledged. She even goes into detail about how she had gotten kicked out of her home. She doesn’t know the recording exists.

She had been living in Texas with her daughter and her rich boyfriend. The boyfriend was paying for everything for the both of them. The daughter and boyfriend had a fight and cut both of them off. So in October the woman called me begging to stay a couple weeks in my condo until she could get back on her feet and buy a place in Texas again. After a month nothing had changed but I learned she was on section 8 the whole time and was never allowed to sublease in the first place. Since then I started making plans to leave soon. Shortly after, I come back to the condo after spending a few days with my family and she had claimed I no longer lived there. She refused to let me in and called the police. Police ultimately took her side and let me grab some of my belongings. She had rearranged the whole condo to make it look like it was hers and threw most of my stuff all into a backroom. I picked up the rest of my belongings with a police escort and then filed this case since it seems the only thing I could do.