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To briefly explain:
She put in less than 30 day notice from the end of the month, that she would be moving out.
She did offer to pay the final month but at the time I & my partner told her not to worry about it. I only mention this because she may have it in writing and could use this against us.
But we ultimate used her deposit for the final month. We thought that this would be fine but she reached out to us two months after moving out asking when the deposit would be returned.
We explained to her that her leaving us to pay the rent is why she wont get the deposit back.
She is saying that we were supposed to provide her with a written statement for the withhold & because we didn’t she is demanding (sent a sec deposit demand letter) that we pay or we will owe 3X the deposit (in state of GA).
To note she was not on the lease and only filled out an application for a room to live with us - as we already occupied the house.
What should we do from here? Does she actually have a case? Thanks.
To me, she has a case. You said not to worry about the last months rent, not “we’ll take it out of the deposit.” Even if you did say that, you probably should have provided a statement along the lines of “security deposit $400, applied to last months’ rent $400, balance due zero”.
To briefly explain:
She put in less than 30 day notice from the end of the month, that she would be moving out.
She did offer to pay the final month but at the time I & my partner told her not to worry about it. I only mention this because she may have it in writing and could use this against us.
But we ultimate used her deposit for the final month. We thought that this would be fine but she reached out to us two months after moving out asking when the deposit would be returned.
We explained to her that her leaving us to pay the rent is why she wont get the deposit back.
She is saying that we were supposed to provide her with a written statement for the withhold & because we didn’t she is demanding (sent a sec deposit demand letter) that we pay or we will owe 3X the deposit (in state of GA).
To note she was not on the lease and only filled out an application for a room to live with us - as we already occupied the house.
What should we do from here? Does she actually have a case? Thanks.
Understand, if she was never added to the house lease she was a subtenant of yours. Did she violate the terms of some sort of standard lease by not providing the required notice of leaving? Well, you wrote that you never formalized any terms of her sublet. Your word against hers as to what the obligations actually were. Making assumptions about the deposit and the rental terms could cost you. Did you get anything in writing from YOUR landlord about a subtenant and what the rental terms needed to be?
She might have a case. She offered to pay the last month. You dismissed it. Not all states allow a security deposit to be used toward paying last month's rent but you didn't check into that.
She's right that you must provide her a written statement explaining why the deposit is being withheld within the state-specified time limit.
She's right that you could be liable for up to 3X the deposit amount.
Sounds as if she knows GA tenant law better than you do.
Looks like a lesson learned OP.
Last edited by Parnassia; 10-19-2020 at 06:03 PM..
To briefly explain:
She put in less than 30 day notice from the end of the month, that she would be moving out.
She did offer to pay the final month but at the time I & my partner told her not to worry about it. I only mention this because she may have it in writing and could use this against us.
But we ultimate used her deposit for the final month. We thought that this would be fine but she reached out to us two months after moving out asking when the deposit would be returned.
We explained to her that her leaving us to pay the rent is why she wont get the deposit back.
She is saying that we were supposed to provide her with a written statement for the withhold & because we didn’t she is demanding (sent a sec deposit demand letter) that we pay or we will owe 3X the deposit (in state of GA).
To note she was not on the lease and only filled out an application for a room to live with us - as we already occupied the house.
What should we do from here? Does she actually have a case? Thanks.
Does she have a case? Maybe. There's a lot missing here that could determine that.
For instance, she wasn't on the lease but filled out an application. Filled out an application for who? With you or the LL? That answer goes a long way toward determining whether she was a sub-tenant (with a lot more responsibility on your back) or a tenant (in which case your LL did a terrible job there of protecting both your and his interests but more yours). The reality is that if LL did a background check on her without putting her on the lease, he gave her all the rights of a tenant without making sure she was saddled with any of the responsibilities of one. I get that he didn't need to. He had already vetted you and had you legally on the hook for all financial responsibilities. The point is that in that scenario: you allowed yourself to be put on the hook for more financial responsibility without saddling the roommate with any whatsoever.
Who was the deposit paid to, you or the LL? Again, goes a long way to determining sub-tenant or tenant.
So you told her not to worry about it and then changed your mind and kept her money? That's pretty questionable moral behavior. She should use it against you.
So you told her not to worry about it and then changed your mind and kept her money? That's pretty questionable moral behavior. She should use it against you.
Yeah, reading through things again...that was pretty shady.
She was your tenant and you were her landlord. You were obliged to apply the GA landlord tenant statute to that arrangement.
Except, based on the limited info OP has provided, we don't know if that's the case. He doesn't say if the background check was by him or LL. (Personally, I'd lean toward LL, because most tenants wouldn't do that on their own.)
He doesn't say if the background check was by him or LL.
There is nothing to suggest that a background check was done at all. I suspect not. The inference is that an application was handed to the OP who did nothing but file it.
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