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Luckily our lease is almost up, but I'm afraid that knowing these people, they will try to keep our deposit.
Here are problems we've had...
1) As soon as we entered the unit, there was a smell of gas. Someone had left the gas stove on and the entire house was filled with gas. Either the landlord didn't even walk through the unit after the previous tenant left, or they are truly clueless and didn't even realize. This should have been clue #1 that we needed to march right back over to their office before moving in.
2) When we received our keys and went to move our stuff in we noticed that the house had not been cleaned. Since we had driven hours to get here, we were tired and just ready to move in. The unit was filthy. Grease all over the stove, hair in the washer, bath tub, floor, etc. I asked them to send a cleaning crew over, but this never happened.
3) The bathroom ceiling was covered in mold. I notified them of this the day we moved in. They said they were going to send someone to clean it, but they never did. I nagged them about 3 or 4 times after that, but they never sent anyone. I finally gave up. Mold is still there. This was indicated on our move in sheet.
4) The coolest it's ever been in here is 80 degrees in the summer. The AC works, but barely blows out. I called them 3 times. They claimed they were sending the cooling repair company, but they never came.
5) Smoke detectors missing batteries and light bulbs burned out. When we signed our lease, we were notified that we would be charged upon move out if batteries in smoke detectors were dead or if bulbs were burned out. Why weren't these replaced? I'm sure they zapped the previous tenant for this. I notified them several times that I wanted batteries and bulbs, but they never gave me any.
Basically, I want to assure that I get my full deposit back. I was a super Nazi when filling out our move in sheet. Any little problem I wrote down. However, I still fear that these people will try to keep my deposit. Any help?
Take lots of move out photos/video for proof that you are not leaving unit in bad condition/dirty. Include photo of that days newspaper front page as a proof photo was an after not before move out. Document all your correspondence / communication with landlord regarding condition deficiencies they were aware of.
Could the mold make it so that it could be deemed "inhabitable" and you can get out of the lease?
Highly unlikely. The incidence of toxic mold is rare. In any event, the OP's lease is coming to an end and his concern is not getting out of his lease but being able to get most of his security deposit back. As long as he has good documentation (which it seems he does) along with dated photographs (move-in as well as move-out are best) he should have no problem disputing any unwarranted/padded deductions.
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
811 posts, read 1,137,559 times
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Seconding STT Resident, good documentation of the issues as well as documentations of the communications in attempt at correcting the issues will go along way in your favor if you need to dispute a deduction. Did your landlord include a walk-through sheet (assessing and agreeing upon the initial condition of the premises) with your lease? For future situations I would encourage requesting a walk-through with your landlord to mutually sign-off on the condition. As far as I know, this is pretty standard, and it's a protection for both you and your landlord. With rental deposits, even when you have a great landlord, it's best to not really hold your breath about receiving a deposit back anyway. There are always little things that add up that are difficult for you to argue against, so it's best to just factor the deposit into your budget as money that has been spent and is gone. Then it's just a bonus if any of it is returned. Best of luck with all of this.
Too bad there isn't a law that requires a landlord to provide receipts or proof that the damages were actually repaired. I'd imaging that the previous tenant of my unit had a portion of their deposit held. I'm 100% sure that the landlord didn't do anything to this unit after they moved out.
I lived in an apartment a few years ago with a hole in the bedroom door. I told them about it at move in and put it on my walk through sheet. They asked if I wanted them to replace the door, but I said not to worry since it's on the back of the door and I was going to cover it up anyways.
Lo and behold, they tried to blame me for it after I moved out. Luckily after looking at my sheet, they realized their mistake.
Too bad there isn't a law that requires a landlord to provide receipts or proof that the damages were actually repaired.
Many if not most states do have exactly that law where security deposit deductions are concerned.
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