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Our landlord is just awful IMO. Never again will I rent a house from an owner. Our lease is up in July, we moved early, fulling expect to pay the balance. We gave him two months, cleaned the house professionally, and the carpets, left it nicer than when we moved in.
He is infuriated we moved out, refusing to work with us in the last month (using the security deposit) I am fine with that, however we gave the keys to the 'management company'. We have no access to the house, did a walk through with the company, and now just sitting here stunned. The landlord will not do his walk through for two months. Unbelievable.
At this point I want to scream. It was two months to get the house fixed, the stove never worked right, an entire room wasn't usable, the washer/dryer didn't work correctly when we moved in The entire stay was insane.
Now I am nervous about our security deposit. The LL is completely nuts. Refusing to fix anything in a timely manner, finally the management company stepped in. The LL lived in India now and I have a bad feeling about being able to get our deposit back. Can the management company be held responsible for the deposit? This is Texas.
Let's deal with a simple one. No, the managment company is not liable for the security deposit, ony the owner/landlord.
Now for the easy or hard one depending on your answers:
1. You said you moved early, but hdid you actually send the landlord a notice of lease termination? In other words, did you place it in writing that you were ending the lease as of X date or did you say you were keeping it until the end of the lease?
2. What is the exact date the lease ends? What was the exact date you said you were moving out? What is the exact date you move out and gave the keys to the management company?
We had a bad experience with an owner with a similar background and is a well educated College professor with no heart.
The professors online reviews are just as bad and I think he may have tenure otherwise I don't understand how he can still be a professor and such a bad person.
If the management company is on your side as we were in the case of the tenant/landlord issue in which the owner was such a slumlord that we ended the relationship but we got paid for the entire year we were suppose to manage it, and we ended up moving the tenant to a better place, the management company may be able to help you as long as they stay within the law.
The management company may have the security deposit which we also had and that basically saved the tenants from losing it since we didn't go for anything the owner wanted us to do and was against the law.
Unfortunately when we take on owners we only check for the property not being in foreclosure, but we don't always know how owners will handle things.
Most owners are very good but we had approx. 3 rotten apples as owners and all are gone. All with similar backgrounds and trying to scam tenants and difficult to get them to allow anything to be fixed and always trying to tell us to keep the security deposits for no valid reason...can you imagine dealing with them directly?
We gave notice on May 12 that we would be vacating the premises on May 16. We stated we will pay to the end of the lease, which is July 28. This was all done in writing. The management company did a walk through, didn't see an issue so took the keys.
The managers are the owner's agents. If they said the place is fine, that's equivalent to the owner saying it's fine. Legally, they are the "owner" with respect to your contract.
Is your contract with the management company or the owner? If it's the PMC, then yes, they are responsible for the deposit. You handed them the money, they are responsible to send you the deposit. Then they get to sue the owner. I would assume that your deposit is in their trust account.
Don't pay any more money, IMO. Wait the allowed amount of time per your law for the return of your deposit. When you don't get it, send a demand letter to the PMC for your deposit, and if you don't get it, then sue for it.
In the meantime, don't send any more money. Let the court determine who owes who what.
At this point, all he can do is sue you, or you sue him. You're out, so there's no eviction. And there won't be a judgment or collection you can't fight.
Plus, if your law says he has to mitigate his damages by trying to re-rent the place asap, and he's refusing to do so, then he can't charge you any more rent anyway.
It's annoying, but honestly, you really hold the cards here, IMO. He can be mad all he wants. But, it will take a judge to tell him he gets to keep your money and not try to re-rent the place.
I'd suggest you just tell the management company - Fine, we'll just let a judge decide what's fair, but we will not be paying any more rent, then. Go ahead and put that in writing. "As you have informed us that the owner does not intend to return our deposit, nor to attempt to re-rent the rental as required by law, we will not be paying any more rent, and will let a court determine what is fair. Be advised that we will be naming both you, as the PMC, and the owner in any court action." Love, You.
Then, let them scramble to reason with the idiot. Sometimes learning that laws are different in the US are hard lessons. But, God love equal rights. If you want to play in America, you gotta go by American rules.
Not all private LLs are bad people. Just not all tenants are bad people.
He may be overseas but he is still bound by the laws and regs of this country and state you're in. His bring in India is inconsequential to having to show up in court if you decide to go that route. The management company is his representative
Doing that will put a spot on our credit report, I don't want that to happen. Legally we can't hold the deposit according to Texas law.
No it won't. You're not holding the deposit.
There will only be a spot on your credit report if he takes you to court and gets a judgment - that you don't pay.
This is what courts are for. If he doesn't return your deposit within x days after you vacate, he's broken the law, and owes you your deposit. Now you have to try and collect it, with him in another country.
And if you pay two more months of rent, that he doesn't deserve because he didn't try to re-rent the place, and you wait to find out he doesn't do this, then take him to court over it, and the court says he has to pay you back. Then, you have to try and collect it with him in another country.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with nipping this in the bud, and asking a judge to decide what's fair.
You asked, I answered. If you want to live in fear of some idiot who is stealing from you, because you are afraid he might ruin your credit report, and you'd rather let him steal thousands of dollars from you, that's your decision.
Option B: Go pay an attorney to answer your questions.
Sorry, but I get so annoyed with people who ask for help, then go on and on about how they can't stand up for themselves. It's like you're saying, Wah, this guy is stealing from me, but I'm going to let him steal from me, even if you give me a thousand reasons why he can't and a thousand resources to help me prevent him from stealing from me.
Standing up for myself and doing something legally are two different things.
They are not different if Standing Up is the Legal RIGHT you have!
You have one decission to make right now, Are you going toi be the poor sad "whoa is me" punching bag or are you going to do the punching?
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