The next installment of my Former Landlord from Hell saga, as outlined in these previous threads:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=145729&highlight=landlord
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=182240&highlight=landlord
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=150726&highlight=landlord
To recap: since the incidents in question, in which my landlord tried to blame the building’s severe cockroach infestation on me AND have me pay for the exterminator, in violation of several sections of the Chicago Landlord-Tenant Ordinance, I have terminated tenancy and moved out. Since I was a month-to-month tenant (mainly because he was too disorganized to have me sign a new lease when the previous rider expired), I was required to give 30 days’ notice in order to end tenancy. I gave notice in the second half of May, so I knew I was liable for June rent, and confirmed so in writing, but told my landlord I would be moving most of my stuff out on May 23rd, and hoped to move the remainder by the first few days of June.
I had moved everything out except for two bicycles by June 1, and the rest by Sunday night, June 8. Between the date of the main move and the date I removed the last few items, my landlord’s wife called me at home (on a Saturday night at 10 pm, which doesn’t strike me as the best time to reach anyone at home, let alone a single person with a life) and said she didn’t know what was going on, because they hadn’t heard from me about when I was moving out or returning the keys (a complete lie, but they’d already lied about me, so I guess it shouldn’t have been a surprise). They had agreed to accept my security deposit in lieu of June rent, as a courtesy, but now I’m worried that they will turnabout and lie again; I agreed to this arrangement as a compromise, on the premise that I would be moved out long before the end of June, so they could start their necessary painting and rehab early, and have a better chance of renting the place for July.
The following week I received a letter via certified mail dated June 7, in which she again requested notification on when I was going to remove the remainder of my belongings, because she had been in the apartment (FTR she referred to my belongings as “quite a bit of debris,” which pissed me off, and if she entered the apartment, it was in violation of the landlord-tenant ordinance again, as the ordinance requires 48 hours’ notice to the tenant, except in case of emergency). I wrote her back the following letter, via certified mail again:
“June 18, 2003
Ms. [landlord]
[address of record on lease, i.e. my old building, although they don’t live there]
Re: Your letter of June 7, 2003
Dear [Mrs. Landlord]:
Yesterday I received your certified letter dated June 7, and I must say that I am quite surprised that you say you don’t know what is happening with my apartment at [address]. Until your letter, the last time I heard from you was a message you left on my answering machine on May 31, asking when I planned to vacate the apartment. Honestly, if you had actually wanted to communicate with me directly, 10:00 pm on a Saturday evening was probably not the most effective time to call me; you have my home and work telephone numbers, and I am nearly always available by telephone either during business hours, or most weekday evenings.
I had previously informed you that I had hired movers to move the bulk of my belongings on May 23, and I returned your message of May 31 on the evening of June 2nd. Nobody answered the telephone on that date, so I left a message on your answering machine that the bulk of my belongings had already been moved by then, and that I planned to remove the remainder over the next few days. (Unfortunately, due to illness during the few days before my move on May 23, I had been unable to have everything packed by the time the movers arrived on May 23rd.)
I did, however, return subsequently on several occasions to pack and move the remainder of my belongings (which were ordinary household items, not “debris” as you call them in your letter), and by the date of your letter, the only items remaining in the apartment were two bicycles. I have since removed the bicycles, wiped the countertops, and vacuumed the entire apartment, so that as of the last time I entered it last Sunday, it was completely empty and ready for you to make any preparations needed to re-rent it. Since you have obviously entered the apartment before to see whether I had moved, I don’t know why you feel it necessary to inquire as to its status by certified mail, but that’s certainly your prerogative.
Since you have consistently chosen to contact me by certified mail, rather than by the less formal and more convenient manner of telephone, I consider it necessary to reply in the same manner for my own protection. I will also note that as you previously agreed to accept my security deposit in lieu of June rent, I would be within my rights to keep the apartment keys until the end of June, but am quite willing to return them to you now in whatever manner you specify. Please feel free to contact me however you feel appropriate. My home telephone number, as you know, has not changed; it is [number]. My work telephone number has also remained the same; it is [number].
Very truly yours,
Eva Luna”
The certified letter has not been picked up, according to the Post Office web site, and it’s June 30th, the last day of my paid-up tenancy, and I have no clue what the heck I’m supposed to do with the keys, or what my potential liability is if they aren’t back in my landlord’s hands today. I suppose my options are:
- Mail them to the address of record on the lease, although they certainly won’t be received today;
- Go to the old apartment and leave them on the kitchen counter, leaving a voicemail for my landlord about their location;
- Leave a voicemail for my landlord that I intend to hold onto the keys until they inform me, preferably in writing, what to do with them.
Any ideas? What’s safest? I really want to be done with these guys, but I don’t want to be contractually screwed. (If this is relevant, I suppose if I went to housing court I could get a chunk of change in penalties from them -–double the monthly rent – for failure to pay the legally required interest on my security deposit, but I’d rather not go down that road. It’s just ammo to keep in mind, though.)