Moving/Landlord advice. HELP!

Quick questions: Did you do a walk-through the first time? Take pictures? Did YOU do any maintenance/upkeep/upgrades on the place since you lived there?

How much is the security deposit?

You were nicer than I would've been DM. I think you handled that exactly right - tho obviously I'm only familiar with the rights of renters here in Oz.

I'm just glad you've finally moved out.

I hope this doesn't end in a nasty situation for you.

Yeah, if you haven't done this, try your hardest to be in on that walk through. Tell her it's your right as the former tennant and don't be afraid to throw around the "L" word. That usually gets peoples attention.

Don't worry. Land lords are all fucking insane. She's probably just dealing with too much shit at once and doesn't know how to handle it. Give her some time and you'll probably get the security. I know you were on a month to month, but you have a lease from when you first signed on? The security deposit should be a part of that and so should the walk through. So if she violates that, then she's kinda screwing herself. Politely remind her of this if needed.

The first two.

Life's a cruel son-of-a-bitch.

Take her to court if you have to, there's a decent amount of money riding on this. Seems like you've got plenty of documentation to not have a big struggle.

This is smart, and I'm glad you took photos. Seeing as you didn't do it the first time around, no point in crying over spilled milk. But take all the photos you can, and start nosing around for a lawyer. With everything you have documented, she should fold pretty quickly.

Having a bad landlady is a miserable experience. I was retardedly naive when I rented my first apartment, and I let me landlady walk all over me, as I didn't know any better (I was 17). Get this- When I would need the on-site Super do any type of service (fix a window that a bird flew into and cracked or replace a faucet that was broken since the day I moved in, to cite two examples), she would deduct money from my security deposit, and tell me it was a "tip" for the Super. She also took money out and told me it was my Christmas gift for the Super.

Needless to say she nickel and dimed me at the final walk through and I didn't get shit back.

Jesus, RL. That's just fucking illegal as hell. You would have totally had a case against her over that stuff.

Tip for the super? Fuuuuuck you. I'll give him a phone call and tell him not to fry bacon with his shirt off, but you can go jump off a bridge if you're gonna take my deposit money for a tip.

Then again, you were 17. They could have told me all sorts of crap if I had my own place at 17 and I'd have believed them.

It's been my experience to just believe that the security deposit was a done deal, that you shouldn't expect to get any of it back. But my deposits were never close to that much. 1st, last, and an extra month rent is a lot of money. You should definitely take her to court. Maybe the threat of it will get her to give it back. Good luck with that.

I had a friend who expected her landlords to not give her the deposit back, because she thought they were dicks, so she wanted to make sure they spent the deposit on fixing up the apartment. So she painted the bathroom Slop Brown. The whole room, floor to cieling. They sued her and she lost the deposit plus had to pay for the new paint job. Not the smartest.

It was always one month's rent AND a damage deposit for me, that's it. Doing 2 months seems rather steep to me...then again, I never rented from a landlord, only from an actual apartment complex.

I once had a landlord who was a complete dickhead. I would pay my roommate, and my roommate would pay the rent. One month, his paycheck and my check to him hit later than his rent check, so the rent check bounced. The day after we found this out, my roommate personally gave our landlord a cashier's check for the rent that month. However, our landlord was so fucking stupid and senile that he tried to deposit my roommate's check a SECOND time, and it bounced yet again. My roommate explained to him that he was wrong, and he finally agreed, but not before he had submitted my roommate's name to the courthouse for an NSF check, and then didn't revoke it after he got his money back. Cut to a few months later, and my roommate is at the courthouse reporting some folks that have stolen movies from the video store we both worked for, and lo and behold, the cops go, "Oh hey, we have a warrant out for you too. You're under arrest." And he spent a night in jail because of this fucking idiot. So when we moved out, we subversively wrecked that place, because we knew we weren't getting our deposit back. We took every lightbulb (including the one in the fridge), every set of shelves on the wall, we fucked up the doorknob to the outside shed so he couldn't get the lawnmower out (that was another fight--our lease said he would take care of the lawn, which to him meant buying us a mower and we had to cut it), and I took the plate off the wall for the cable, reached up into the wall as far as I could, and cut the cable, then replaced the wall plate. My roommate also wanted to take the ice maker and the chandelier, but thought better of it. And to cap it all off, we left every set of keys, including our respective girlfriend's copies, and he came back and said he wasn't returning the deposit because we didn't leave ANY keys. After that, we never heard from him again, except every night one of us was working late, on our way home we'd drive by the old place and take down the "For Rent" sign and throw it in the ditch. He ran this huge bridal shop in the city, and anyone I spoke with that ever went in there hated that guy.

On the court side, we're in the middle of a case right now where we sued a private school my son was going to because they changed something about their school that we didn't agree with, and the headmaster and his wife got belligerent with us, so we removed our kid (us and every other family, actually). We sued him for our tuition back (we'd only been there a week), and won in small claims. Of course, he appealed, which goes to the state court. He doesn't show up for the appeal. We win, right? Wrong. We get another court date, which he shows up at, and his lawyer says, "Oh, he didn't receive the initial notice." Even though it was sent to the address of record for the school. He's arguing that it should have gone to the actual school address, which is what he put on the appeal. So, if that's the wrong address (which is a rental property they own), why is it listed on the Ga. state records for the school, and how did you get the 2nd notice? That decision is now with the judge, and it's been with her for almost 2 months, and she still hasn't made a judgment yet. The justice system seems to fucking suck for people who are in the right. We've done everything "correct" through the system, and he's lied every chance he's gotten to speak. And here we are 18 months later, and still no resolution.

One month security is customary in my experience (plus sometimes a damage deposit for pets), but with one exception (when I broke the lease a month early and used the security as the last month's payment) I've always received all or most of the security back. I try to be a good tenant, and I've been lucky that all my landlords (5 so far) have been decent and reasonable people.

And, from a landlord's perspective (I own a house back in New York that I rent out), shitty tenants are a fucking nightmare too.

DM, get a recommendation for a good lawyer who specializes in Landlord/Tenant work in your area. They should be willing to at least have a short conversation by phone to see whether there is any legal exposure on either side. One way to get a good recommendation is to ask local "big firm" lawyers (who generally won't be doing that kind of work, at least not at any reasonable rate); they should know and be able to recommend someone reputable and at least competent.

After all that, forget about it and move on. At least 80% of the time, everyone but the lawyers loses in a lawsuit.

Yeah, you should only ever have to give a landlord first month's rent and security deposit - that's standard, none of this "last month's rent" stuff.

And also, tipping the super is completely up to you - that's also illegal as hell (to say nothing of fucking ballsy!) to deduct any kind of tips from your rent.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, when my wife and I were first married we rented the second floor of a two-family house from an older Italian man. This guy was a fucking prince. Any time we had even a little inconvenience, he was over within the hour with a guy to fix it. He raised our rent once in four years, and when he personally stopped by to tell us of this, he was crying. When I answered the door and he told me he needed to talk to me, I thought he was selling the house. He was wringing his hands together and looking down at his feet. He said "I have-a some bad-a news...I have to raise-a your rent." It was a whopping $25. And he gave us three months notice. And he must have apologized a dozen times. And he brought over about 2 gallons of the killer sauce his wife made and a balloon for my 2 year old. When we moved out, this son of a bitch gave us our entire security deposit back without even a walk through with interest, plus a home depot gift card (we were moving to our first home). We promised he and his wife would be our first dinner guests in our new home.

We saw him ten days later. At his wake.

Mario = best landlord ever.

That's a fantastic story, RL.

Oh, god! How sad! That $25 rent increase must have broken his heart!

We had a landlord like that when I lived in Brooklyn. In six years, he never raised our rent - his deal was that if we renewed, he wouldn't raise it. There were also bricked up fireplaces in each apartment (it was an old brownstone, six apts in the building) that he opened up, free of charge and without ever raising our rent. His rationale was that it was a shame to let such nice fireplaces stay bricked up when people could be enjoying them. Stuff needed to be fixed? He'd fix it, within a day. Really, the only complaint we ever had about the guy is that he'd bring over ice cream when my then-roommate and I were trying to diet. It was hilarious, because the stories of bad NY landlords are legendary. My roommate's friend would call up and cry, "My landlord won't replace my doorknob! My doorknob fell off and he won't fix it!" And we'd be like, "Yeah, that son of a bitch we rent from keeps bringing over Rocky Road when we're trying to stick to salads!"

Yeah, I've pretty much written off every security deposit I've ever paid as money I'll never see again. That way, if I do get something back, it's a nice surprise. Although, most places in Orlando write off or substantially lower the security deposit for people who work for the big local employers, so I've never had to put out a huge amount of money.

There was one place I lived, a room on one side of a duplex, that was a bit of a nightmare. One of the guys who lived on my side was the son of the woman who owned the house, and he acted as landlord. They asked for first and last and a security deposit equal to a month's rent, but they said as long as I paid the deposit at some point before I left, I didn't need to have it up front. Fast forward to the third time our power had been turned off because the landlord had gladly taken our money but not used it to pay off the rather large past-due balance on the account (he'd just been paying the current amount due and ignoring the late charges). I finally got fed up and paid off the past-due balance with my credit card and told him "There's my security deposit". When I finally told him I was moving out, he tried getting the deposit and that month's rent out of me. I told him "I paid my last month's rent when I moved in and guess what, this is my last month." Then I flipped the lights on and off and said, "Oh, and here's my security deposit".

What if they use the "you have bad credit" line?

Good point. I honestly don't know, though. Anyone familiar with that?

Assuming that your new landlord actually pulled your credit report (and didn't just find out your number), point out to them that none of the issues influencing your credit score are directly related to your rent payments. Provide context.

Also: If you have bad credit, try and get a written statement from your prior landlord stating that you met the terms of your lease AND made all of your monthly payments ontime (or within a month).

DM8, in Pennsylvania, a landlord is required by law to provide his former tenant with a written explanation of what monies he is withholding from the security deposit and return any excess balance within thirty days of the lease's termination. If he fails to do so, the tenant can file a civil district judge suit and seek double damages (i.e. twice the amount of monies wrongfully withheld).

I do not know what the state of Florida law is, but you should certainly investigate. The above-referenced provision is an amazing sledgehammer.

Darkmite, do you have anything in writing from this landlord? Signed lease, contract, anything that mentions terms and monies to be paid?

DM8, I just did a quick run-through of Florida's Landlord-Tenant Act. It does not seem to have a matching provision for Pennsylvania's double damages language. So, back to the ole' drawing board.

At this point, premised upon Section 83.49(3)(a), it might be advisable--so long as you've provided her with written notice of your new address--to lie low and wait to see if she provides you with a written explanation of what monies she intends to withhold. If she fails to do within that 30 day period, you will have her over a barrel.

Not to belittle your feelings and experiences with this fiasco, but if all you're looking at is lost $$$, that doesn't seem like a huge thing to stress over. If you conciously write it off in your head as a bad investment, maybe you can be surprised when you do get it back, as if you won the lottery!

edited: Unless your'e really strapped for cash...

I just always kissed any damage deposit money good-bye. I figure if I've lived without it fine for this long, why bother. I usually made up for it by fucking the landlord on clean-up anyway. I never leave a forwarding address or contact number.

This time I won't do that as my landlords are decent people and I've lived there so long that the deposit, when I laid it down, was peanuts and they're going to need a considerable amount more to fix what they'll need to. Normal wear and tear. Nothing catastrophic or negligent.

Yeah I try to sock away $200 every month for an emergency fund and I try not to move too much. I live pay check to pay check too and I'm pretty sure I get paid less than you in a more expensive city. But I don't have a family though. Not that I am trying to start a who-is-broker dick war or anything. I understand your position especially with a young family.

I'm with you on this one - I'd be pissed off and I'd want to make sure she doesn't fuck over anyone else this way.

On the other hand, I do understand being nervous that she'd take some kind of legal action against you. I'd say, at least talk to a lawyer to see if you or she has any kind of case. It doesn't sound like she does, truthfully, but someone with experience in these matters can tell you for sure.

The last place I ever rented, the landlord didn't return our security deposit. No bullshit reason, no justification, he just sold the place and fucked off. We sued, won, he didn't show (which in NJ means you're awarded triple the amount). That was six years ago. I'm told my judgment is good for 20 years. I had a PI friend run his shit, and he's got like 14 judgments against him. Good luck collecting.

Well, I can see that you'd feel that way given how angry you are. But I don't think not meeting her face to face has a lot of bearing on it. I rent from an incredibly fair guy, and I never met him face to face till I'd been renting from him for 10 years.

Yeah, see, that's just fueling your outrage, dude.

Right now I'd be nervous as to weather she even exists or not. You are probably lucky you never met her face to face. "She" is probably her "son" in a ratty wig, shitty make-up, and a dress.

Again, I gotta stress that there is next to no way to enforce the actual collection of small claims cases like this. Do your research, but you're apt to be out money and a whole lotta time going through legal channels.

You might want to take the issue to your community's fair housing advocate. If it's resolved in your favor, it's all win for you. If it's not, all you're out of is the time you spent presenting your issue to them.