My current tenant in the apartment I rent(first floor of my house) is moving out. He did stay the length of the lease and paid his rent on time. Quiet too. So when he gave thirty days notice I couldn’t be upset, and because he had been so regular in his rent payments I gave him permission(when he asked) to pay the rent late this last month.
So when I reminded him it is the 15th and the rent is due he emailed me that he can’t pay, that I can have the deposit as the last month’ rent. Well OF COURSE I can! Although the lease says he can’t do it he is trying to screw me out of what is owed. I HATE that! What if he leaves the place a mess? THAT’S what the deposit is for! I have sent him an ultimatum that he has to pay up by 10:00AM CDT on Saturday or I will, take him to Small Claims Court. I will see if that jogs some bucks loose. Grrrrr! Tenants like this are why being a landlady is so hard. I never butted into the place while he was there, I tried to be quiet upstairs, and left him alone. So why has he turned into a jerk? Thanks for letting me vent here. I am so friggin’ angry!!!
Take a pill.
Why is it that you expect this person who to date has been a model tennant to have trashed the place? You are entitled to visit and check the place out no?
Try to remeber that this person has most likely had to scrape enough together to get a deposit on a new place. While I know thats not your concern I can see it from the tennants point of view. Getting the deposit back on the day he leaves is not much use if he needs to secure a place to live in the meantime.
Try to resolve things amicably and part on the good terms that you have enjoyed to date.
If he has been a model tenent until this point, give him the benifit of the doubt. Go look and see what the apartment looks like before you rant and bitch.
I think your rant it a bit premature. Bitching and screaming before all facts are known is just a waste of time.
Now, if you open that apartment and it is trashed. You can bitch all you want (I know I would.
But, screaming about a possible senario I find a bit silly. Exspecially since he hs been a model tenant till now.
Osip
P.S. Feel free to post again and tell me “I told you so” if you feel you must. Yet, for your sake and mine I hope that does not happen.
The place is a mess. I did go and look. If I have to clean it up I will be behind, because that is what the deposit is for. Both of you sound as if you have never been landlords. Have you? Have you had to deal with folks making promises they don’t keep, in regard to your own money? And by the way, it is “tenants”, not “tennants” or “tenent”, “scenario”, not “senario”.
And it is not my problem if he has trouble scraping together
enough for a new place, it is his problem. It’s not my problem if he has money difficulties.
I work in property management. SECURITY IS NOT RENT!
It is not to be used for the rent. The landlord must
keep it in an interest bearing account, and use it
for any repairs to the apartment after the tenant
moves out. The balance must be returned to the
tenant along with a letter of explanation.
We once had a tenant evicted who owed 6 months’
back rent. They trashed the place (including
pouring oil in every closet!), and when we would
not give them their security back, they actually
tried to have a sheriff’s sale of the house because
we owed them their security. A pain-in-the-ass that
lasted six months, and we then sued them for back
rent and damages. And didn’t see a dime.
Annie-Xmas, thank you for your reply. It seems someone else here knows better about landlord/tenant relations. I doubt I will see anything either, but it will be interesting bugging him until he leaves. I suspect he will clear the rest of the stuff out while I am at work next week. He knows my hours. So I will probably have to change the locks as well.
My understanding of a deposit is that it is to be used for damages to the property or its contents.
Have your tennants moved out yet? Have they not cleaned up after themselves? That admittedly is not in the spirit of things. I think you might be justified in extracting the cost of a “Ms. Mop” and any vacuming,shampooing etc costs you might incurr.
I am presuming that when you say the place is a mess that it is still habitable?
You are correct in that I have never been a landlord.I still think however that an amicable resolution is probably in everyones interest (and your blood pressure too). I do understand your anger and you have the right to be miffed of course…but threataning legal action seems to be a little over the top.
I think perhaps that most of this anger comes from the fact that the property is part of your own living space. Would you feel the same way (as angry) if it were an appartment on the otherside of town?
clarifications:
Im Irish not Finnish
If I make typos …sue me
Baker
As I tennant myself I claim to know a little about landlord/tennant relationships and am trying to advance the position of the other party.
Annie
I bow to your surperior knowledge.
A question however:
In the case of a tennant owing six months back rent but who leaves the appartment in pristine condition is the landlord entitled to keep the deposit?
Damhna, how can I get the cost of the cleaning supplies? The jerk hasn’t paid the rent. As has been said before, deposit is not rent, so if this bozo won’t pay up the rent, I have to use the deposit to cover it(which I shouldn’t have to). So where does the cost of cleaning and changing the locks come from? Out of my pocket, that’s where! And I will still have to work cleaning too.
I wouldn’t be a landlord simply because it seems like a pain in the ass. I lived in a duplex for a little over two years and I know the problems my landlord had with their tenants. One side was a two bedroom and the other side was a three bedroom. We lived in the two bedroom side for 6 months and then moved into the three bedroom. Once we left the two bedroom side our landlord started showing the place. She had two prospects. One prospect was two teenagers, one of which was between jobs. The other was a woman in her mid 40s who was working as a bagger at the local grocery store. My husband (now ex husband) and I met both of them at the request of our landlord because she wanted our opinion on whom she should rent to. We all agreed that the teenagers probably wouldn’t pay the rent, would play loud music and be disruptive and my husband and I had a little baby at the time.
She ended up renting it out to the older lady. The lady gave her the deposit but didn’t pay the rent for three months. Our landlady gave her an eviction notice and eventually the police had to come and watch the woman pack her belongings and leave the premises. Our landlady took her to small claims court but the woman skipped town so our landlady was out three months rent and also had the mess to clean up and still had to try to find new tenants.
When I moved from that place three months ago I paid my last months rent, cleaned the apartment and did a walk-through with the landlady. After the walk-through she wrote me a check and gave me my deposit back. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. If you know your going to move you should have money saved up for deposit on a new place before you even start looking. Just my opinion.
So your a Mick, not a Finn, no worries either way.
The typos were mine not your Damhna
I Have been on both sides of the fence in this.
I think until he moves out, getting pissy and such is not a good idea. If you rant and bitch or become “hostle” he will only have a desire to say “fuck the bitch” and leave the place a wreck.
If he leave the place a wreck and skips out, you may very well have to go to small claims court. Which, you should.
I am not questioning your right to bitch about the situation, just the timing.
Inofrm him with a letter that the deposit is not rent, and that he must have the apartment clean and in good condition when he moves out to get the deposit back. Which, under those conditions his deposit will be refunded minus overdue rent. If it is not in good condition, and he does not pay take him to court.
i’ve never been a landlord and have taken dishonest dickshit landlords to court to have issues resolved, so i have no bias on the side of landlords. that said, people like baker’s tenant piss me off to no end. it doesn’t matter that the guy paid his rent on time; that’s his obligation to the lease. you don’t tell the landlord you can’t pay the rent and to use the security deposit. just do what you agreed to do when you signed the lease! pay your rent, clean the apartment before you leave, and expect your security deposit back within 30 days (texas).
also, baker has every right and reason to rant and bitch. the tenant didn’t ask if it was ok if he didn’t pay the rent, he simply announced that he wasn’t going to pay it. that sucks and is disrespectful and gives baker the right to respond however (he/she) sees fit. just knowing that i might have to waste time in court because some asswipe doesn’t know how to conduct his business would really boil my blood.
I’m 5 months into the lease on my 10th apartment. Baker, I know you’re pissed about the place being a mess; however, apartments (or houses or any other dwelling) usually get “messy” during a move. Whenever I would move to a new apartment, I always moved out a few days before the lease ended so I could come back and clean the place, absent of all furniture, clothes, etc. If he’s been such a good tenant, why do you think he’ll leave you with a mess to clean? Was he “messy” while he lived there? Shit, if all of my previous landlords would have seen my apartment during the move, they probably would be reacting just as you are. Maybe you should prepare for and anticipate the worse, but don’t allow it to get to you before you cross that bridge…if you can. You just may be surprised by him.
Just like everyone else, you get the good and the bad on both sides of the renting fence. I’ve lived in a place where if the rent was half-an-hour past noon, you paid the late fee. My current landlord lets it slide for a couple of days if things are tight. But then again it took over a week to get a new hot water tank put in (water heater or hot water tank; hot water heater is redundant) and we just got a tax-sale notice tacked to the door. He still hasn’t returned my call as to whether we ought to renew our lease or not.
I also rented to my brother. I know, mistake, but the terms of the lease were that he’d make the mortgage payment and pay for any repairs–kind of like being the homeowner. Then we get a nice long email about the furnace, the hot water tank, etc., “we’re not asking for money…is it too much to ask for a little help.”
Hell, landlords and tenants both suck. I can’t wait until I graduate, finally find a tenure-track job and buy something again.
As a working property manager, I have had this happen all too often. The quickest way to get action is to deliver the tenant a three day notice to pay the rent or vacate. This is all you need to file a small claims case. Beats having to give thirty days notice and waiting for a date. If you point out that they may be liable for all court costs, he will likely pay up. Either way follow through with your threat, it makes it easier on the rest of us. I often never collect on a judgement, but it does appear on their future credit checks.
I really appreciate all the feedback I am getting here, especially a couple of the latest ones, from Rachelle and bare. I know I probably won’t collect a penny but as has been said it will appear on his future credit record.
One problem there, in filing I am supposed to have his(new) address and I don’t know what it is. Anyone have tips on how to find out? I’m no detective.
Having worked in collections, I can tell you one of the best ways to hunt someone down is the U.S. Postal service.
This will only work if he has forwarded his mail. Mail a letter to the old address, very clearly marked “Do Not Forward Address Correction Requested”. Should come back to you fairly quickly with a yellow sticker on it with the new address. Ummmm. Otherwise, did he give you references when he moved in? That may help-try calling them. Be VERY careful though. I know at my old job we could state who we were, and where we were calling from-but not WHY. Or do you have a new phone number? Try information if you don’t. Then, go to the reverse phone number lookup at http://www.infospace.com . You can plug in the number, and if it is listed it will give you the address and name that it is in.
