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I am needing some advice on how to proceed with my issue. I will try to make this short and sweet. Any information or experience will help!
My husband and I decided to move from the house we were renting. We gave a formal 30 day notice to our landlords via email since they have refused to provide a physical address. Out of the three years there, we only signed a lease when we first moved in, never signed a renewal the two years after.
Our landlords accepted the 30 day notice but asked if we could move earlier so they could paint the entire house and the new tenants move in as well. I have an email confirming from the landlords that August 26th was the move out day and they would reimburse for the 5 extra days we had already paid in rent. The husband (one of the landlords) changed the move out clean list to JUST the two bathrooms and kitchen. We did two separate walk throughs of the house and was told there was no issue to hold any of the security deposit.
We did not receive the itemized deduction/security deposit back until September 30th however it wasn't post marked until AFTER the 30 day deadline that texas has which was September 27th. They are now saying we owe them money in cleaning services of the whole house and other misc. repairs. I have tried disputing them via email as well as letting them know they had forfeited their right to hold our deposit now since they missed the deadline. They will not respond and neither will their attorney.
My question is what do I do now? Also, do I have a case if I file a small claims suit against them for the security deposit and rent owed back to us? PLEASE HELP ME!!!!
Sending a claim letter and the date may be ruled by a judge as being out of the time frame but every judge may see it different if the time frame was not completely clear.
Officially the date was the first of the month and you got the letter within the 30 days but if you go back for the pro-rated days that may or may not be used by a judge. That is risky to just pay court fees based on that and getting the right on your side.
Since both parties haven't agreed then the next option is to file in mall claims court. Since you will be the plaintiff you get court fees paid back IF you win or you will loose that money as well.
As the plaintiff you need to proof your case and the defendant has to prove their side of the case unless you don't show up with proof!
Per the email from the landlord, they confirmed our move out date as August 26th, which means they should have mailed ON OR BEFORE the 30th day from move out which means if should have been post marked no later than September 26th.
It's 30 days from the move-out date you gave in your original notice, not 30 days from the early move-out date you negotiated.
As for cleaning, maybe the house appeared clean before you moved but no longer looked clean after all your stuff was out. Did you do a thoroughly cleaning after all you stuff was out, or are you relying on the walk through that was done before you moved?
Can you please reference where you got from the original move out date? I am trying to figure out how my move out date wouldn't be considered the 26th with the email from landlord stating that as the move out date?
Also, we have pictures of the entire house right after clean out and the last time we were in the house. They are dated and time stamped
Can you please reference where you got from the original move out date? I am trying to figure out how my move out date wouldn't be considered the 26th with the email from landlord stating that as the move out date?
Also, we have pictures of the entire house right after clean out and the last time we were in the house. They are dated and time stamped
I am not an attorney so this is just my opinion. It should be 30 days from the date you surrendered possession of the apt and turned over the keys. And being that you have written proof/verification of all of that I would say that you are correct in your summation that they were late.
If the only issue was that they were late and you did receive all of your security deposit back or what you felt reasonable then I would say just let it go but being that you also have disputes with what was deducted I would say pursue it.
I am assuming that you now have their physical mailing address if you have received an itemization and a check for the balance of your sec dep so I would first attempt sending a demand letter via certified mail/return receipt requested. This way you will have concrete proof in case it goes to court. Follow everything in this link to a T. There is also a sample demand letter at the bottom of the page in this link: Texas Tenant Advisor
If they either don't respond to the demand letter or comply I would sue in small claims court which is also explained in the link above.
Thank you for the information.
The letter they sent was from their po box so I still don't have a physical address and they did not return any of our deposit
Thank you for the information.
The letter they sent was from their po box so I still don't have a physical address and they did not return any of our deposit
Have you tried googling them to see if you can find a physical address?
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