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We signed a one year lease in June 2012 to live in a single family home (LL does not fall under the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act (VRLTA). In mid August I was advised that I was being transferred to Texas in three weeks. I immediately sent my LL a copy of my transfer orders (I am a federal employee and had a clause in my lease covering transfers much akin to the military clause). LL was VERY upset that I was breaking his lease and amongst other things, threatened to sue us for the remaining amount of rent and demand compensation for our breaking the lease. He finally relented when confronted with the language he put in HIS lease which allowed for none of that.
I left the state beginning of September and kept my family in the home until the end of September. Upon leaving, he stated that we had took fantastic care of his house.
ISSUE:
Fast forward to Friday. I receive a letter in the mail detailing his reasons for withholding our ENTIRE ($1,100) SD as well as charging us an additional $68 dollars. I have no issue with him receiving compensation for any actual damages which amount to less than $200 however he is attempting to do three things which I think are not legal:
1) He is attempting to charge us $84 / hr for his labor which he stated was computed based off his salary as a senior government official. I am under the impression that in Virginia, landlords are precluded from charging for their own labor. We are LLs in California and anytime we have to do anything, we hire someone and invoice it for our records or we just eat it if it is minor stuff.
2) He is attempting to assess us $800 of "Landlord's Discretion: Lease Non-Comliance Fees" for both not changing the air filters monthly as outlined in the lease and having Verizon FIOS installed without hsi prior approval. While he is correct that we did those two things, I do not think he is allowed legally to charge us penalties for not complying with the lease. as I understand it, he is limited to seeking compensation for actual damages.
3) He is attempting to retain our pet deposit though our two little dogs did no damage and there was no mention of this deposit being non-refundable. I know in CA, there is no such thing as a non-refundable deposit and that is why we charge a pet "fee" from our tenants. Legally, the term deposit implies it will be returned.
I apologize for the long message and I am very interested in anyone's insight with regard to our position and rights in Virginia. I feel he is using his "discretionary fees" as a means to penalize us for breaking his lease and to subsidize his home's preparation for sale which he has now put on the market. He is also taking advantage of the fact that we are now in Texas and the cost of flying back and hiring a lwyer would far exceed what we would get back. all of which I find utterly despicable both as a LL and a human being.
I think you answered your own question. It would cost more to get the deposit back than the deposit amount. You need to decide if you want to fight it( I think you can to some degree, not all) or bite the bullet. It's a pick your battle kind of thing.
I agree the LL cannot charge for his time, and the filter issue can only be charged for the cost of the filter and/or any damage caused by not changing the filter.
Read the pet deposit lease and see if it does say non-refundable.
You need to decide if you want to fight it or let it go.
Landlord is crazy if he thinks he'll get an additional $68 bucks from you for labor. Don't pay it. I doubt the landlord will take you to small claims for it.
Probably not worth the trouble to try and get your security deposit back though. Not changing air filters can wreak havoc on an HVAC system.
1) Your lease falls under VA Code, 55. The Act was designed primarily for multi unit dwellings.
2) You freely admit breaking the lease agreement on a public website, and all w/in 3 months or less
3) The rest of your numbers are somewhat unclear. Are you saying that pet deposit + noncompliance charge + his charges = $1,168? If so, what was the PD$$?
Let us know how this goes forward...
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