Landlord won’t return deposit?
I rent a home and put down a $600 deposit. I had a 9 month lease, I then signed a new month to month lease after the 9 month had expired (it was a new lease not just going month to month). I moved out and it took the landlord a few weeks to do a walk through. He said everything was great (I had spent $250 have the carpets and house cleaned professionally). He has nothing but great things to say about us. I asked for the deposit and he said the depoait was money to hold the house (we gave the deposit 11 days before we moved in, since we were selling our home and moving long distance), the deposit was not for secuirty reasons just to hold the place.
I was polite and said I believed deposits were for making sure the house was damage free and rent was paid up, he agreed the home was fine and the rent was all paid.
I pointed out the second lease says the deposit we paid earlier would transfer to the new lease.
he said he would get back to us, he was headed on vacation.
It has been a week with no communication, how should Iproceeed. Is it worth fighting or going to court?
I bought a home again so I won;t be renting again.
I took a video and pictures of the home before I moved in, and I took an extensive video and over 100 pictures when I moved out. Since it took him so long for the walk through I had members of the home owners association walk through before I moved.
The orginal lease says a $600 deposit is required and then states the day it was paid. The next line states there would be a $600 pet deposit and then next to that we signed stating we had no pets and that it was N/A.
The second lease just states that the deposit carries over to the new lease and states the date we paid the deposit. Why would it carry over if it was a holding deposit??
The lease was just one of those forms you print off the internet. The landlord is his first time renting (it was his vacation/golf house).
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Tags: Long Distance, Money, New Lease
vacation property | , 21 Jun 10
By col. Kurtz, June 22, 2010 @ 3:04 am
Of course you fight for your deposit back! Take the Lecherous Bastard to small claims court if you have to. Start building your paper trail so you can show the judge your “extraordinary” concern for the snake’s place! Get a statement from the cleaning crew’s supervisor as to the condition you returned the apt in. His claim that the deposit to “hold” the apt is non-refundable is NONSENSE!
He just wanted to use your money for his cruise! So have at this guy. We’re entering a Republican recession so grab that cash and hold on to as much as you can, its going to be a rough ride after 30 yrs of Reaganomics run amok!
By Magenta, June 25, 2010 @ 8:53 am
I would certainly do something about this, too many landlords are ripping people off and this guy is completely lying to you. A holding fee? Give me a break who ever heard of that? I would take him to small claims court, I think it’s worth it just because he is ripping you off and he will continue to rip people off as long as no one does anything about it. If you have his email it’s a good way to go because then there is a record of the communications you can had. Send him as email stating that he did a walk-through, the place was in perfect condition and you would like your deposit back. If he sends an email back stating that it was a holding fee but agrees that the place was in perfect condition than send him another email stating you are going to seek your deposit in small claims. Then bring the emails with you to court. Make sure you do not mention small claims in the first email as he may respond by lying and saying you wrecked the place to try and make a case against you.
By jeff k, June 28, 2010 @ 4:45 pm
He is a low life fooking con man, take him to court, and make him pay your cost’s also! the world is full of trash like him, make him pay, one way or another.
By David P, June 28, 2010 @ 11:31 pm
Well, start with documenting the issue. Start keeping a little note pad with dates and such.
Now, check the original lease agreement, it should specify the purpose of the deposit. If it does and he duped you, you’re probably screwed. Try writing some nasty letters of complaint, but don’t bother with court.
If the original tenant agreement stated that it was a deposit, or if it’s ambiguous then you’ll probably win in court.
Before court you can do a few things that may resolve the issue, but they can also prepare you for court (I’ll get to court in a moment, don’t worry, going to court is very easy).
First, write a letter stating that you intend to take him to court if the issue is not resolved. Keep a copy of this dated letter, you’ll need it if you do end up in small claims court.
If you want a better chance of success have a lawyer write the letter. But going to a regular lawyer is too expensive. Check out. They are a very reputable site that allows you to pay a small monthly fee to have access to legal advice. They will write legal letters on your behalf. The service is essentially legal insurance. I suggest you only use it if you think it would be beneficial for you in more ways than just this one.
If all of the above has failed. Simply go to court and file in small claims court. The process is generally easier than filling out your 1040ez tax form, I’ve done it once and was amazed at the simplicity.
Small claims court is for issues under 5k and lawyers are not involved (in fact they are not allowed).
This one step will probably be enough to coax him into doing the right thing. At worst case you’ll show up on in court one evening on the day of judgment. You’ll sit around for an hour or so watching the other cases (much to your bemusement probably, the whole experience is worthwhile to watch just on its own merits). When it’s your turn you’ll simply provide the letter, notes, and original agreement (if you have it, if not, don’t give up on that account), and make your point.
The judge will listen to both sides for probably 5-10 minutes, make a judgment (probably in your favor) and life goes on. You’ll feel that you learned a lot just for having gone through the process and probably won’t regret spending the time on it that you did. At least that’s how I’ve felt since my one encounter with small claims court, even though I lost my particular case.
Best of luck to you.
David
By gafpromise, July 2, 2010 @ 10:21 am
Question: does the paperwork you have specify what kind of deposit it is? Because there are security deposits and there are also holding deposits. Any sort of deposit can be either refundable or non-refundable. So the wording on the original paperwork when you handed over the deposit is very important here. If it clearly states it is a refundable security deposit, or fails to state that it is nonrefundable, you can take him to court to get it back.