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Long story short, my husband and I signed a 1 year lease with private landlords (husband and wife) in June of 2013. We paid a $750 refundable security deposit and $300 non refundable pet deposit. In May of 2014, I text the wife letting her know we are beginning the search to purchase a home and would like to go month to month, to which she agreed. June 2014 I sent a certified letter advising them we will be out by August 1. The certified letter was never accepted by them and returned to us. The closing date was pushed back and we were not out of the home until August 4. They agreed to prorate the amount and let us leave midmonth as long as they found a renter, which they did and the renter moved in the same day we moved out. The landlord and I agreed to take the $97 out of the security deposit for the prorated rent of August (she suggested this). During the walkthrough with the wife, I provided her a forwarding address. After the walkthrough she text me and advised the house was filthy and the walls needed to be patched and painted. I turned my car around and went straight back to the house. Her husband was the only one there and I explained to him that I did not feel we did a thorough walkthrough and would like to do another. After disputing the claims of the the messy house, holes in the walls and repaint needed, we agreed that they will only charge us for paint supplies. 30 days passed and we had not received a return of our deposit or a letter stating why they are not returning our deposit. We sent a certified letter requesting the amount of $653 be returned to us ($750 less the prorated amount from August 1-4). They did not accept the letter and it was returned. We then sent another letter, certified and regular mail. The wife finally text me explaining that I was not receiving our deposit back because the house was a mess and the walls needed to be fixed. I advised her I had pictures showing the condition of the house at the time of move in. We agreed to meet the following week. During our meeting, we came to an agreement that they would return $340 back to us. The wife expressed financial problems at the moment so I offered to give them 60 days from the date of our meeting to return the deposit. She agreed and wrote this on a piece of paper and signed it. It has been almost 90 days and we have received nothing. I text the landlords and never got a response.
Here's what I am worried about.
We sent a certified letter the first time expressing our intent to move after 30 days, but did not send another certified letter once the move out date was pushed back.
We agreed to take the $97 out of the security deposit, which was a good idea at the time but now I am worried we will not get anything back because we shouldn't have agreed to this.
Does any of this matter? We both signed an agreement at our last meeting saying they would return $340 and they never did.
Presumably you have receipts for the certified mail which was not picked up/refused and, if you still have those returned letters, retain them unopened. Go and file a claim in small claims court immediately. Go to the first "sticky" on this forum, find the link to TX landlord tenant laws and read what's said about security deposits. Since you never received any accounting at all from these landlords you can likely claim the total SD back, possibly even more in punitive damages. Good luck.
File a claim for the $340 in small claims court. Present your evidence and see what happens.
Unfortunately, once you agreed to the 90 day in writing, you terminated your rights under the state's Landlord Tenant law and this is now just a simple personal debt owed.
Your hurdle may be the date that was pushed back and not having anything in writing about an exact date.
The strength of your case is the returned denied certified letter and if you haven't opened it then use it in court since it will help your case a lot.
Your hurdle may be the date that was pushed back and not having anything in writing about an exact date.
The strength of your case is the returned denied certified letter and if you haven't opened it then use it in court since it will help your case a lot.
See Rabrrita's last post. Unfortunately agreeing in writing to a compromise has apparently shifted any claim out of the landlord/tenant/security deposit return arena.
See Rabrrita's last post. Unfortunately agreeing in writing to a compromise has apparently shifted any claim out of the landlord/tenant/security deposit return arena.
I missed that post and yes if they agreed in writing to a 90 days that override it but without reading every post there is something else like the returned certified letter which shows intend to break any promise and also if the compromise was in that letter then it is not a delivered agreement.
If parties try to settle and one party doesn't agree or doesn't keep to the time line than in court the settlement is like not existing and a judge can decide on something totally different or grant a judgment for the settlement amount and we also have seen that the plaintiffs lost the case completely so better think before spending money on filing fees on what the chances are of winning.
It also looked like the landlord comingled funds which is a big no-no and could kick it back into the jurisdiction of the rental court. Just a thought.
It also looked like the landlord comingled funds which is a big no-no and could kick it back into the jurisdiction of the rental court. Just a thought.
Texas does not require landlords to maintain a separate account for security deposits. In practice, Texas does not even consider security deposits as in trust for the tenant. Basically, it becomes the landlord's money.
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