Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with securitydeposit

Trash day came early.

thisisnotkatrina — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:50:14 -0800

Landlord threw out my things before my lease was up - do I have any recourse? I had been living in an apartment since last September and decided not to renew my lease in favor of moving in with my boyfriend. The lease is set to end August 31, 2009.

I got a call last week from my landlord asking when I'd be out so that they could get the keys. I told them that I had planned for Wednesday, August 26th and I'd leave the keys when I left.

So Wednesday comes and I go and gather the rest of my things. My mom was to come up later that day and get my furniture that I would not be taking with me. In my gathering, I find a dead mouse and called the landlord to tell them. There was no answer but I left a message stating that I didn't have anything to clean the spot with but I'd be there until 4:30 or so and my mom was coming up after to get my furniture and that she had her own set of keys.

I left and left my keys and a note for the landlord saying thanks and here's my new address (for the security deposit).

I didn't hear back from them until about 5:30 when my mom was on my way to the apartment. They apologized and made no mention of me needing to clean the spot. We hung up. An hour later, my mom calls to tell me that she forgot the keys and she'd get the stuff out the next day if she could.

I figured it was no big deal since I had the apartment til Monday and didn't call back the landlord.

Flash to today, my mom wasn't able to get back there until today. She goes to get the furniture only to find that someone had already moved into the apartment and everything was gone. She spotted my bed in the dumpster, but the rain yesterday had ruined it, along with anything else that had been in there.

All told the things I lost didn't amount to much in value (a double bed, a small couch, a satellite chair, a desk/chair, vcr, dvd player, stereo, extra cellphone) but it was MY stuff, stuff that was going to be used, stuff that I paid for.

My mom called the landlord to tell them this and she explained that when she talked to me on Wednesday I said I was done (I did not say this) and that I had left my keys so they assumed I was done. My mom told her that my lease did not end until the end of the day Monday and she hoped they wouldn't be taking anything out of my security deposit. The landlord said that "the attorney handles that" and I would get a letter/check within 30 days.

My opinion is that I told her that my mom would be up to get the rest of my stuff, I told her my mom had a set of keys, AND regardless of when I said I'd be out, my lease doesn't end until Monday. I realize now I should have called back when I knew my mom wasn't going up Wednesday but I figured if they walked in and all my stuff was there they would at least call and ask what was up. (They were otherwise very cool landlords, always called me right back and always called to warn me if they'd be in.)

So now not only have a lost a good portion of my stuff, I'm afraid I'll be charged (via the security deposit) for not removing the last of my things.

So what I'm asking here is do I have any recourse? Can I get them to pay for what they made me lose? (The stuff had a value of probably only ~200$ which would hardly even replace the bed, but still..) Can they charge me via the security deposit? Do I need a lawyer? I don't have any money for one. I mean seriously bank account = 0.00$ but I have an uncle who lives in another state who probably would send a letter if I asked.

Thanks in advance, this all took place in Pittsburgh, PA for the record.

Help me handle my finances during my last month in apartment

lblair — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:01:10 -0800

Can I persuade my landlord to let me use my security deposit for my last month's rent? If not, what's my next best option? ( I'm dealing with paying my credit card bills too.) My lease is up on 8/31 and I'm broke. (I'm moving home with my parents to save money.) I have about $1000. That's about how much my rent is. My security deposit was a month and a half's rent. My apartment is in good condition, and with the exception of being a few days late with the rent a couple times, I think I've been a pretty good renter. (Lived here 2 years.)

My problem is that I am also behind on a bunch of (small) credit card bills. Also about $1000 worth of needs-to-be-paid-asap type stuff. So, right now I can either pay my rent and wait and pay the credit cards over the next 1-2 months. (I have a crappy p/t job and I'm trying to find a better one, but til then . . . ) Or, I can try to convince my landlord to let me use the deposit, and put my $1000 towards my credit cards. (I know, I know, being in credit card debt is a whole other story, but I'm moving home so I can work and save money and pay them off.)

I think it would be better for me to pay the credit cards and try to negotiate about my rent, simply because the cards will ruin my credit a lot more if I'm late on them. If I'm lucky my landlord will agree to taking my deposit for August rent. If he won't, and I just don't pay it, I'm afraid of legal action or ruining my rental history.

I tried to google for the answer and the impression I got was that using the deposit for last month's rent is generally something that you can't do, but people try to do it anyway- sometimes by talking to their landlord, and sometimes by simply not paying the last month's rent. (I live in IL, if that matters.)

So my question is- what is the best way to persuade my landlord to let me do this? If he says no, then what? How bad are those 'over-30-day' hits on your credit report? (I'm not about to be sent to collections, but I think I have gone over/will soon go over 30 days on some of them.)

How can I get my security deposit back?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:12:32 -0800

SecurityDepositFilter: Yet another NYC tenant here desperate to get his security deposit back from greedy landlord. So I sublet a place for two months, and paid a full security deposit (the same amount that the original tenant paid to his landlord). A month after vacating the place, I still haven't been given it back. Reason? The original tenant claims that he has not received his deposit back from the landlord himself -- I had taken over his final two months.

The thing is, I never actually took over his lease; I signed a separate sub-contract just for those two months. I paid my security deposit direct to the tenant, NOT to the landlord, and the understanding (yes, I know, should have gotten it in writing) was that I'd get it back once I left.

In my two months there, I didn't touch a thing -- in fact I hardly used the gas stove. He conceded as much. My question: is what he's doing reasonable? What if the landlord finds something to pick at, and deducts his deposit -- does that mean I'll get a reduced deposit? What if the landlord never pays him? Isn't that his problem? Why should I be insurance?

More importantly, what recourse do I have? Can I take him to small claims court? What chance do I have of winning? I know YANAL, and particularly NML, so this isn't legal advice.

(Anonymous because apparently the little twerp reads metafilter.)

can a landlord demand more security deposit after you've moved in

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:53:20 -0800

nychousingfilter: I signed a lease, moved into my new apartment on the 1st and now my landlord is demanding an extra security deposit. Can they do this? First: I know you are not a lawyer and that even if you are, you're not my lawyer. Also this is posted anonymously because some of friends read Ask MeFi and I'd like my business to be private.

I'm taking time off to work on a startup, my family overseas is investing by covering the rent while I do and the company of a family friend signed a form guaranteeing my rent. I signed my lease, received keys, and gave the landlord's company first + last + security in the form of teller's checks which they've cashed last month, and I moved in on the first. All of a sudden the landlord has decided they want more forms from the company guaranteeing me which they don't want to provide, and have told my family that they'd like a few additional months security deposit. Can they do this? Can they cancel my lease and force me to move out or move to evict me if I don't cough up? I signed the lease but haven't received a copy of it signed by my landlord, so it's possible he's not signed it, but they cashed my checks and let me move in on the first. What are their options, and what are mine?

(And yes, I'm looking for a housing lawyer, but I'd still like to be able to know things and thus do my own research before I see one, hence this question. Thanks for help in advance.)

How can I officially get dibs on this NYC room share?

lxs — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:45:17 -0800

Getting an room in NYC question...with a twist. I'm currently deep in the throes of trying to find a room share situation in NYC while living in the midwest. I finally came across something that sounds really promising - the location is absolutely perfect, the price is right, the roommates are exactly the type of people I was hoping for, and the start date for the room's availability is exactly when I was hoping to move.

The bad news is that flights are freaking expensive right now and I really need my money for those first few months in New York. Also, I work long hours and many weekends and so it's really not going to be easy for me to take a trip to look at the place. I've seen a good number of pictures of it, however. I also have a good friend who lives in the neighborhood and knows it well, who is willing to go take a look at the apartment for me.

My question is this - the people living in the apt and I seem to have hit it off pretty well, and it seems like they want me there enough, based on our phone conversations, that they are willing to let me move in without interviewing in person. If this ends up working out, what is the safest way for me to send payment for a security deposit, guarantee that the room will be held for me, etc.? I would not be on the lease for the apartment. The people definitely seem trustworthy, but I want to cover all my bases and not put myself in a precarious situation financially.

The landlord wants to give our money back

limeswirltart — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:18:28 -0800

My management company is giving back everyone's security deposits. Tomorrow. Should we accept? A notice was posted in my (Chicago) apartment building from the management company stating that they are phasing out security deposits, and instead are charging new tenants a non-refundable $295 administrative fee. As we are existing tenants, we won't be paying this fee, but we will be getting our deposits back.

For a half hour this Saturday, someone from the office will be sitting in the basement laundry room (shudder) to hand us a check with our deposit and interest "upon your signing a receipt/release."

Now, I get that management is probably buying security deposit insurance so they don't have to manage interest-bearing accounts anymore.

But what I find odd is the very short notice (the memo was posted yesterday) and the fact that we aren't seeing any paperwork ahead of time. I mean, why the urgency?

Has anyone else gotten their security deposit back in the middle of a lease? Any reason we should refuse and ask them to hang onto it?

Should I take my landlord to court?

buriednexttoyou — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:54:50 -0800

Landlord took 60 days to return security deposit (the max is 45 days), there has been no interest added to it, and she's taken a healthy chunk of money out for "repairs." This is in Chicago. Should I take her to court? Most of the repairs are bogus, and they're all conveniently rounded off to multiples of $25. The bit of research I've done says that since she took longer than 45 days to return it, and there has been no interest added to it, I may be entitled to a return of double the security deposit (which was two months rent in the first place). Do I have a case? Is it worth it? How would I go about doing it? Should I just threaten legal action to get the full deposit back? Should I hold off on depositing the check before I take action?

How to respond to a bullying landlord

faux ami — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:13:08 -0800

Another security deposit question with a twist. Landlord in California is holding deposit until she receives "payment" for unreturned DVDs - which I didn't borrow. Illegal. However, I didn't return the keys before I left on vacation to Thailand! She wants $50 for 3 Simpson's DVDs which I didn't borrow since I own my own copy (and by the way, you can get the entire set new for $25 on Amazon). She wants $20 for Mission Impossible ($10 on Amazon). She also wants to steam clean the carpet in a room in which I lived for 8 weeks, didn't eat in the room (wasn't allowed to), and didn't wear shoes. She also never gave me a walk-through. We extended the contract 2 weeks (after 2 months was up and I needed another week) but now she claims I didn't tell her when I was vacating so couldn't give me a walk-through! However, when I did move out it was at midnight, she was asleep (she lives in the house) and I locked up and took the keys. Now, I'm in Thailand for 3 weeks!

I know the deposit needs to get back to me 21 days after receipt of keys. Can she re-key the place and charge me for it? The DVD thing is ridiculous and illegal. The steam cleaning might be valid, but is tenuous. Should I sue her? Pay up?

How to get a UK landlord to comply?

war wrath of wraith — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:31:22 -0800

What can I do to get my security deposit back from a negligent landlord in London, UK? I recently moved from Camden Town to Shoreditch amidst a host of problems, including the forced eviction of a housemate involved with heavy drugs and subsequent break-ins and vandalism by said housemate.

Rather than simply not paying my last month's rent as I probably should have done, I decided to go the legitimate route and pay before moving out.

It has been over a month now, and the landlord has still not returned my deposit. I have a copy of the lease, the terms of which I have not broken. I tried contacting the landlord many times, but now he is simply not taking my calls or dismissing me outright. I have an email/sms trail of messages and notifications regarding this issue.

What can I do? I'm not a UK citizen (fulltime student from USA), and am unaware of UK law as far as tenant rights go. I'm also unclear as to how to proceed with legal action should it come to that, which I'm prepared to do even if it means paying as much in fees as I'm likely to gain should it prove successful.

Could going to court over my security deposit hurt my credit?

Xalf — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:40:55 -0800

Security Deposit Dispute: Will going to court hurt my credit? I'm considering going to court to get back more of my security deposit and my landlord has suggested that going to court might hurt my credit rating. This thread suggests that a landlord could ding my credit rating over money I owe him, but is there any way that losing an attempt to get back some more of my deposit could hurt my credit? Even if I didn't want to pay him a debt I owed him, I couldn't because I'm the one who thinks I'm owed money. I'm in Michigan, USA.

Oh and I'm not interested in discussing the merits of my claim or the merits of taking such a small claim to court.

Should we take the money and run?

Diskeater — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 19:34:22 -0800

Our landlords didn't give us the full security deposit and now that the hearing date is approaching, they offered to finally pay it to us in full. Should we or shouldn't we accept their offer? You just know that there is much... My roommate and I had a one-year lease that was up at the beginning of July. We decided to find a new place and not renew, largely because we were both completely fed up with our landlords. We gave them the appropriate notice and we moved out on June 30th, one day before our lease was up.

One of our landlords (the wife) did an apartment inspection. We were still in the process of moving out so we explained that we still had to clean the place, which she understood, she did note some tack marks in the walls from the four or so posters we had up, but the apartment was in otherwise great condition.

The problem was that I had the utilities taken out of my name and the landlords / new tenants didn’t bother to put them in their name….so we had no power on the last day. That meant that we couldn’t give the place a thorough vacuuming. We left a note and fully expected to be charged something for the floor cleaning.

We had given them $900 for a security deposit that we were supposed to get back 14 days after we moved out, along with an itemized list of any deductions. This is the law that states that (along with a bunch of other relevant facts).

Needless to say, they didn’t send anything to us, so near the end of July, I filed a claim at the Burlington Housing Board of Review, per information I gathered from this excellent website.

Sometime during the second week of August, we finally got a portion of the security deposit back. It was something like $780, with about $70ish being deducted for carpet cleaning and the rest for “numerous tack holes in walls”. We cashed the check but we wrote “PENDING LITAGATION” on the back.

Also: A landlord is supposed to put the S.D. in an “interest earning account” and we are supposed to get the interest and it doesn’t look like they did that.

Last week, we finally got a hearing date of October 2nd, as well as a call from one of our landlords. She asked if we had received our security deposit and I told her that we had. She then asked “what were we expecting to receive?” I told her that after 14 days, they waived the right to make any deductions. She offered to pay us the full $900 in lieu of going to the hearing and I told her that I would have to get back to her.

My roommate is leaning towards accepting the offer because he is more hard-pressed for cash than I am…but I kind of want to go thru with the hearing. According to the law, if the withholding of the S.D was “willful”, they could be eligible for up to double the S.D., but I really don’t know what that means. Worst case scenario, we do have the $780 and I don’t see any reason why we would lose.

I think they’ve done enough improper stuff to give us a shot at some extra cash.

So what does the hive-mind think? I also tried to be as concise as possible but I can definitely give more info if requested.

Limited liability?

-harlequin- — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:53:04 -0800

ApartmentFilter: Is it financially safe to not clean up impeccably when moving out of an apartment, or will a landlord normally go after you for money over and above the security deposit, if they think enough work was involved? WA. USA.
The rather exuberant hourly rates listed in the move-out contract for any cleanup you allegedly didn't do "properly" when moving out seem like they could easily exceed the bond even for a pretty thoroughly cleaned place.
Is this likely to result in me being hounded for money in addition to the security deposit? It gets potentially a little worse:

There is a mildew problem in one room that for all I know about mildew (nothing) might need some solid work, so I don't know if it could blow things way over the security deposit.

What normally happens? Do landlords cut their losses at the limit of the deposit, or try to bill you? And if they try to bill you, how much "over" is enough to make it worth the effort?

Should I try to negotiate the cleanup rates in my next contract renewal?

(The landlord runs several apartments, but probably less than a dozen. I am quite happy to lose the security deposit in exchange for less clean-up work when moving out, but I don't want to screw my landlord, and I don't want him to screw me. Or more to the point, I'm ok with being screwed up to the level of the deposit already paid, just not more than that :-). My contract isn't specific about this, it mainly just lists hourly rates and fees (eg $X if the blinds are dusty)).

How much over and above the security deposit (in the landlord's view) is enough to taint referrals? (I imagine it depends on the landlord and how much over, but experiences are welcome)

What does "normal wear and tear mean" at the end of a lease?

sequential — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 19:58:42 -0800

Please help us figure out if our previous landlord is bending the law. In July, we gave her ample notice that we were moving out. At that time, we asked her for the name of the paint that she used so that we could touch up some areas that were marked by fabric. She agreed to this solution, but in the remaing 45 days of the lease never returned our phone calls.

Please keep in mind that we never had visitors stay for more than a couple of hours, never had anything that would resemble a party and were nothing more than model tenants during our lease.

In an effort to help her turn over the unit, we also steam cleaned the 100 or so square feet of cream colored Berber carpet, patched the ten or so nail holes we made and cleaned the entire unit very thoroughly. (The whole unit has approximately 500 sqare feet of space. It took us three full days to clean it to our satisfaction after we emptied the unit.)

When the unit was emptied, we noticed there were small scratches in the soft maple floor. Distressed by this development, we went over the list of precautions we had taken to prevent such scratches: rubber feet under all furniture, carpets under much of the furniture, regular and thorough cleaning to prevent build up and care when on the wood floor. Of the several hundred square feet of wood flooring, there were just a few square feet that had any marks and just a fraction of that was noticeable without getting down on your hands and knees.

After 19 days of not hearing from her since we moved out, we took it upon ourselves to call her. From the get go, she was on the offensive. She claimed the rugs was filthy beyong her imagination and it cost her $100 to have it cleaned. The walls were so badly damaged in her estimation that she had to repaint the entire unit. Lastly, she is having the entire floor refinished. In her own words, "When you rent an apartment, it is your obligation to leave the apartment in the exact condition it was in when you rent it."

To be clear, the unit was finished the day before we moved in. There were no previous tenants. She cut many corners in the unit, which I believe predetermined where the damage was found. The paint, for example, is cheap, matte paint that scuffs if you brush up against it with a black t-shirt on. The cream Berber carpet, while not cheap, is just begging for trouble. Lastly, the soft maple is not floor grade, from what I gather. Furthermore, it was not urethaned or covered in any protective coat. It was simply sanded and polished.

I'm not asking for your legal opinion. We have a lawyer for that. Instead, I hope to gauge her reaction through the lense of your experience. Is my landlord just trying to protect her investment or does she fundamentally misunderstand the notion of "normal wear and tear".