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I've been renting a room for 18 months, and I'd like to know whether
the homeowners can retain a portion of my security deposit to 1)
replace the carpet or 2) repaint.
1) I thought it was the law that once a tenant vacates, you must
replace the carpet. That is, the tenant is not liable for that
expense. Is that only for apartments?
2) I've done nothing to dirty the walls or put holes in them. I
think the tenant wants to repaint.
The homeowner has asked me to leave for reasons, as stated, unrelated
to the quality of my tenancy. Is the 30-day-notice right-of-refusal
mine? That is, once I've been given notice to vacate, if I decide to
move out sooner than the end of the month, or even 30 days, do I have
any right to prorated rent credit and/or my security deposit?
Thanks!
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In article <ea71041qs1av9bi1m2ikc4m39c08lc4kjb@4ax.com>,
Hooliganz <brettharlow123@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been renting a room for 18 months, and I'd like to know whether
the homeowners can retain a portion of my security deposit to 1)
replace the carpet or 2) repaint.
1) I thought it was the law that once a tenant vacates, you must
replace the carpet. That is, the tenant is not liable for that
expense. Is that only for apartments?
2) I've done nothing to dirty the walls or put holes in them. I
think the tenant wants to repaint.
The homeowner has asked me to leave for reasons, as stated, unrelated
to the quality of my tenancy. Is the 30-day-notice right-of-refusal
mine? That is, once I've been given notice to vacate, if I decide to
move out sooner than the end of the month, or even 30 days, do I have
any right to prorated rent credit and/or my security deposit?
There are a lot of issues here.
In general, the landlord may only retain part of your security
deposit for paint and carpet under 2 situations:
1) you agree to it in the lease.
2) you caused abnormal excessive wear and tear.
In the case of #2, the easy way to document and prove this is
by taking photos. Without documentation, it becomes a case of
your word versus the landlord's word.
As far the move-out goes, if the lease is month to month,
then either of you can cancel the lease as long as you follow
the terms in the lease. That requires a 30 or 60 day notice.
If a legal notice is given, both parties are expected to honor
the terms of the lease up to the day that it terminates. If
you want to move out earlier, the landlord always has the option
of doing a prorate, but is under no obligation to do so. Moving
out on the 17th really doesn't help the landlord much since
most places are rented starting at the first of the month.
The remaining 13 days are kind of useless to the landlord.
-john-
--
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John A. Weeks III 612-720-2854 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
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In article <ea71041qs1av9bi1m2ikc4m39c08lc4kjb@4ax.com>,
Hooliganz <brettharlow123@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been renting a room for 18 months, and I'd like to know whether
the homeowners can retain a portion of my security deposit to 1)
replace the carpet or 2) repaint.
Of course they "can". They presently have possession of your money.
Whether or not it is 'legal' for them to do so is an entirely different
question. *grin*
1) I thought it was the law that once a tenant vacates, you must
replace the carpet. That is, the tenant is not liable for that
expense. Is that only for apartments?
Who knows?? *WHERE* is your room? Such matters are entirely governed
by local law. And since you failed to specify any locale, nobody can
so much as guess as what might be 'reality' where you live.
2) I've done nothing to dirty the walls or put holes in them. I
think the tenant wants to repaint.
The homeowner has asked me to leave for reasons, as stated, unrelated
to the quality of my tenancy. Is the 30-day-notice right-of-refusal
mine? That is, once I've been given notice to vacate, if I decide to
move out sooner than the end of the month, or even 30 days, do I have
any right to prorated rent credit and/or my security deposit?
WHAT 'right-of-refusal' is that? Never heard of such a thing in any
jurisdiction I've been in. which gets back to the missing 'critical
information' from your problem description.
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In article <ea71041qs1av9bi1m2ikc4m39c08lc4kjb@4ax.com>,
Hooliganz <brettharlow123@gmail.com> wrote:
Laws vary from place to place.
1) I thought it was the law that once a tenant vacates, you must
replace the carpet. That is, the tenant is not liable for that
expense. Is that only for apartments?
Where is that supposedly the law? The tenant isn't responsible for
ordinary wear and tear, but replacing carpet after a short tenancy is
not required.
2) I've done nothing to dirty the walls or put holes in them. I
think the tenant wants to repaint.
Again, ordinary wear and tear isn't your responsibility.
The homeowner has asked me to leave for reasons, as stated, unrelated
to the quality of my tenancy. Is the 30-day-notice right-of-refusal
mine? That is, once I've been given notice to vacate, if I decide to
move out sooner than the end of the month, or even 30 days, do I have
any right to prorated rent credit and/or my security deposit?
Generally, no. If you want to move out, you have to give notice as
well. If he gave you 60 days notice, you could turn around and give
him 30 days (if the law in your locale, or your lease, specifies 30
days).
Seth
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Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:32:50 -0400 from Hooliganz <brettharlow123
@gmail.com>:
I've been renting a room for 18 months, and I'd like to know whether
the homeowners can retain a portion of my security deposit to 1)
replace the carpet or 2) repaint.
In general, no, not unless (a) you have damaged the carpet or walls
beyond the level of ordinary wear and tear or (b) there's a provision
in your lease allowing this charge even without damage to the place.
1) I thought it was the law that once a tenant vacates, you must
replace the carpet.
I have never heard of such a law. Of course, you didn't bother to
tell us where this is, so I suppose it's possible there is such a law
where you live, unlikely though that seems.
2) I've done nothing to dirty the walls or put holes in them. I
think the tenant wants to repaint.
*You* are the tenant, unless you're subletting (which you also didn't
tell us).
Unscrupulous landlords often do charge for repainting, but unless
your lease specifically allows them to charge you, or unless you've
made it necessary by unreasonable wear and tear on the walls, that's
a cost of doing business to them and they cannot withhold any part of
your security deposit.
The homeowner has asked me to leave for reasons, as stated,
unrelated to the quality of my tenancy. ... once I've been given
notice to vacate, if I decide to move out sooner than the end of
the month, or even 30 days, do I have any right to prorated rent
credit and/or my security deposit?
Not unless the lease gives you that right (and it probably doesn't),
or you and the landlord agree in advance.
--
If you e-mail me from a fake address, your fingers will drop off.
I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice. When you read anything
legal on the net, always verify it on your own, in light of your
particular circumstances. You may also need to consult a lawyer.
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
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On Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:20:24 -0400, "John A. Weeks III"
<john@johnweeks.com> wrote:
In article <ea71041qs1av9bi1m2ikc4m39c08lc4kjb@4ax.com>,
Hooliganz <brettharlow123@gmail.com> wrote:
There are a lot of issues here.
In general, the landlord may only retain part of your security
deposit for paint and carpet under 2 situations:
1) you agree to it in the lease.
2) you caused abnormal excessive wear and tear.
In the case of #2, the easy way to document and prove this is
by taking photos. Without documentation, it becomes a case of
your word versus the landlord's word.
Definitely take pictures. Might be a good idea to take a picture of
something that didn't exist when you moved in, like a newspaper
headline that says Obama or Clinton wins Pennsylvania. I don't
see it come up on those tv court shows, but I often wonder why people
don't take pictures the first week they live somewhere and claim they
are from the last week.
As far the move-out goes, if the lease is month to month,
then either of you can cancel the lease as long as you follow
the terms in the lease. That requires a 30 or 60 day notice.
If a legal notice is given, both parties are expected to honor
the terms of the lease up to the day that it terminates. If
you want to move out earlier, the landlord always has the option
of doing a prorate, but is under no obligation to do so. Moving
out on the 17th really doesn't help the landlord much since
most places are rented starting at the first of the month.
The remaining 13 days are kind of useless to the landlord.
So what if the landlord slipped and gave him notice on the 15th day of
the month? Would he have to pay for 45 more days?
What if the tenant moved in in the middle of the month, or he knew
that other tenants had.
Should the landlord be prevented from putting the apartment on the
market, or even from coming in and repainting until the first of the
month? That seems fair if he's made the tenant pay until the end of
the month. What should he do if a prospective new tenant wants to
rent it on the 25th? Collect double rent for 5 days?
B) OP you can bargain with the landlord outside the lease. Without
challenging John's description here of how the lease works, you can
tell the landlord that you intend to move out on the last day of the
month, but for one or two weeks rent, you'll move one or two weeks
earlier.
If the landlord can only rent on the first of the month, or at least
most tenants want to rent and move in then, and the tenant has no
incentive to move out before the last day of the month, when is the
landlord supposed to do repairs for normal wear and tear? If he wants
to paint, when is he supposed to paint?
Certainly some people are looking for an aparment in the middle of the
month. My mother was. When I was living with my brother, I moved in as
a roommate the day after we made the agreement. Then I got my own
apartment, with only my name on the lease. And my roomate one time
moved out, at the start of the school year (We weren't in school but I
got many of my roommates from the school nearby) but kept his room for
a month while he painted his new apartment. I got a new roommate and
while she waited for the room to be free she was living a couple extra
miles away from school. I told my old roommate about this and that if
he moved out earlier, I would pro-rate the rent. He said to me,
firmly, quote "If I find anything or anybody in my room before the end
of the month I will break it or her." I was astonished. I thought we
were on good terms. We used to get along so well, and I met him when
I had a room to rent and we were apartmentmates for 5 years. I don't
known when things went bad or why. After he moved out, I talked to him
once and told him he didnt' have to apologize, and to remain friends I
needed to know what he was angry about. He said, I'm not angry.
But this off-topic. When I moved out of the whole apartment, one
roommates wasn't ready yet, so I asked the landlord if he could rent
the place for two weeks, and the landlord said fine. I was the only
one on the lease, but I knew the roommate wouldn't leave a mess, and I
already had my security deposit back. (separate story)
-john-
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
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