House Rental Law Advice... Help! (renters, credit report, lawyer)

jordanjanine · 03-23-2008, 07:27 PM

Hi,
We have fulfilled our yearly lease here in NLV. The carpet was stained and seams were missing before we got here, they had it cleaned but it just came back up again. I spent tons of $ buying rugs to cover them because we couldn't get them to come out. Also, a few months back the man who lived here before us asked us if the landlord had put in new carpet because he had charged the last resident for the carpet. The rental property mgmt. came over and said the only problem we are going to have is the CARPETS! Two questions:

1) how do we not get stuck paying for previously ruined carpets
2) we put in a 1400. deposit and she wants us to pay for the last months rent and we would like her to take it out of our deposit! Our monthly payment is $1010.00 and we have kept the house IMMACULATE! And we intend on leaving it that way.

What should we do here? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks, Jordan

ZX14TJ · 03-23-2008, 07:33 PM

Last month rent cannot be taken out of a security deposit. Deposits are deposits, not a pre-payment of final month rent.

Pay the last month of rent and then fight the damage charges if they are not accurate and you can prove the same with initial walk-through documentation.

jordanjanine · 03-23-2008, 07:44 PM

She gave us the form and she never picked it up and we never filled it out! Is that going to be a problem? If we leave mid month would we only have to pay half of that month? She is saying that we have to pay the entire month whether we stay the full month or not?? Thanks SO much for all your advice! Jordan

olecapt · 03-23-2008, 07:47 PM

YOu have your move in walkthrough complete with photos right? If you don't you just screwed up and may pay a bit for it.

There are some landlords who have charged five renters in a row for the same carpet damage. Even if the LL means well they may well not remember.

If you need a LL reference in your next place don't go to war with this one. You will not get a good reference.

YOu can practically use the security for the last months rent. Do not expect anything back if you do. And don't expect a nice referencde.

The correct way is to pay the last months rent and then ask for all your deposit back. If you don't get it off to small claims court. YOu will likely get all or most of your money back and the LL will likely get stuck with the costs. Takes a few months and a few hours of time. Not hard. Actually an interesting experience if you have not done it before.

jordanjanine · 03-23-2008, 07:53 PM

We have purchased a house in Kentucky, and our first payment is due April first. If we paid the full months rent and we asked for it back would we be able to take care of the court thing from there? Probably not... I'm just wondering if we hired a lawyer to go to court for us, if that was possible. Also, I DID TAKE TONS of pictures of the house BEFORE we moved in.

Thanks SO much I really appreciate everyones help! Jordan

jordanjanine · 03-23-2008, 07:55 PM

What would happen if we didn't?

airics · 03-23-2008, 08:03 PM

if you have pictures before you moved in, are they dated on the back? if not you still may have a problem.... who is the management company?... when you moved in, did you move in the middle of the month, if so did you pay half rent or when does your lease start and end.. but definitely dont irritate the landlord, it would be hard for you to rent again

olecapt · 03-23-2008, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jordanjanine

What would happen if we didn't?

There is no practical way to pursue a small claims action from afar. So don't pay the last months rent. NOthing really bad happens. There is no practical way to evict a person in a few weeks. The LL may be able to bug you on the credit side but that is generally handlable.

Note that LL is going to keep the other $350 or whatever.

You might consider telling the LL what you are going to do and offer the keys back when you leave rather than the end of the month in return for a couple of hundred from your security deposit.

Who knows...the LL might go for it.

jordanjanine · 03-23-2008, 08:31 PM

If we don't pay, can they evict us within 3 days? What is the soonest we could be forced to leave?

airics · 03-23-2008, 08:46 PM

i am pretty sure at 3 days, just a note goes on your door.... if your management company is someone like Terra West, they probably will end up on your credit report.. i had renters in ohio that were evicted but they caused damage to the house, they moved out of state, i still sued and got a judgment, never saw a dime, but it was on their credit report for 7 yrs.... don't know the nevada laws..except that Nevada is a landlord state.