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We were supposed to be moving into an apartment on June 1st, but found a more suitable place to sublease (until we close on our house). The day we were supposed to move in (at this point, no lease signed) because we were supposed to sign the lease on the day of move in, last minute I was called to go to CA because a family member had passed away and I had to help with the funeral arrangements etc..... I did contact my bank to stop the $250 security deposit from being cashed (I paid a fee for this), i called in time and therefore even though we did not move in, they were not able to cash it. I was so caught up in the funeral arrangements that I lost track to make a simple courtesy phone call to let them know that I was currently out of state and that we will not be moving in to the unit after all.
Now they are suing me for the $250 security deposit that I owe them or they will report me to the credit bureaus.
I thought when you sign a lease that is when the unit it 'vacated' to you as a tenant. We only paid the application fee. So if you pay the application fee, does that mean 100% the apartment complex vacated the unit to you as a potential tenant?
This is an excerpt from the Texas Landlord's Association site. You can find a link to TX landlord tenant laws in the first "sticky" on this forum:
"Application fees and application deposits
In most cases, you will be charged an application fee to cover the cost of processing your application: running credit checks, verifying rental histories, etc. This fee is non-refundable.
You may also be asked to pay an application deposit. This deposit does not become a part of your security deposit until your application is approved and the lease is signed by both parties.
If your application is not approved, the deposit is refundable in most cases.
Depending on the application you fill out, the application deposit may not be refunded if you are accepted but fail to move in, you fail to tell the truth on your application, or for certain other reasons."
What your particular case rests upon is whether this was a security deposit, an application fee or an application deposit. Check your state laws once you've gone over your paperwork and determined exactly what the deposit was for.
We were supposed to be moving into an apartment on June 1st, but found a more suitable place to sublease (until we close on our house). The day we were supposed to move in (at this point, no lease signed) because we were supposed to sign the lease on the day of move in, last minute I was called to go to CA because a family member had passed away and I had to help with the funeral arrangements etc..... I did contact my bank to stop the $250 security deposit from being cashed (I paid a fee for this), i called in time and therefore even though we did not move in, they were not able to cash it. I was so caught up in the funeral arrangements that I lost track to make a simple courtesy phone call to let them know that I was currently out of state and that we will not be moving in to the unit after all.
Now they are suing me for the $250 security depositthat I owe them or they will report me to the credit bureaus.
I thought when you sign a lease that is when the unit it 'vacated' to you as a tenant. We only paid the application fee. So if you pay the application fee, does that mean 100% the apartment complex vacated the unit to you as a potential tenant?
Ummmm...I am confused by your wording. Are you equally confused about what you actually paid for?
I know we paid to apply for a unit to be vacant for us to rent.
Did you look at your paperwork and check TX landlord tenant laws as I suggested earlier? This is all very easy to deal with if you determine exactly what it is that you paid, not what you think you paid. My guess is that you paid an application which is non refundable but you'll never know until you check.
Did you look at your paperwork and check TX landlord tenant laws as I suggested earlier? This is all very easy to deal with if you determine exactly what it is that you paid, not what you think you paid. My guess is that you paid an application which is non refundable but you'll never know until you check.
correct, the application fee $35 for self, $25 for spouse was non-refundable the $250 security was the only one refundable. But I stopped the check from being cashed.
correct, the application fee $35 for self, $25 for spouse was non-refundable the $250 security was the only one refundable. But I stopped the check from being cashed.
If you're absolutely sure that the $250 was a security deposit (it seems a very small amount compared to the norm) then they have no right to demand it since no lease was entered into.
You really should write to them and clarify. You said in your post, "Now they are suing me for the $250 security deposit that I owe them or they will report me to the credit bureaus." Have you yet received a court summons? It's highly unlikely that they've taken steps towards suing you at this point but you just can't sit back and hope it'll go away. Write to them and explain why you feel you don't owe them any money - basically because it was a security deposit and no lease was entered into.
If you're absolutely sure that the $250 was a security deposit (it seems a very small amount compared to the norm) then they have no right to demand it since no lease was entered into.
You really should write to them and clarify. You said in your post, "Now they are suing me for the $250 security deposit that I owe them or they will report me to the credit bureaus." Have you yet received a court summons? It's highly unlikely that they've taken steps towards suing you at this point but you just can't sit back and hope it'll go away. Write to them and explain why you feel you don't owe them any money - basically because it was a security deposit and no lease was entered into.
yes they wrote me a letter stating that I owe them the $250 security deposit since they did vacate the unit for us to move in to, else they will report me to the bureaus about the $250 owed to them.
This is why I am confused, what exactly the definition of 'vacating' a unit means, by applying for the unit and paying the application fee? because that is all we did.
no court summons received yet, but I will be mailing them a letter today.
yes they wrote me a letter stating that I owe them the $250 security deposit
This is why I am confused, what exactly the definition of...
I suspect they see the $250 as a holding FEE that would LATER be applied toward the SD
after you signed the lease and paid the rent and so forth (which is fairly common practice).
As STT said though... it's still about what the documents call it.
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