I just moved from a rental. Looooooong story but this was my landladys’ apartment and she was moving out of state and needed someone to rent it. I get the place because my girlfriend was a minor friend of hers and my landlady knew we were moving. We get settled inand everything is fine until about 6 months later she finds out we have a cat. She goes nuts saying we cannot have pets(our lease specifically says we can) and she is calling all the time. For an unrelated matter she moves back in town and all of a sudden I get an eviction notice delivered by a sheriff.(I was to date with the rent) I fight it but since she is such a pain I agree to move out in six weeks and we BOTH(landlady and myself) agree to this. My thought was she wanted back in her apartment. Anyway the day comes and she is nowhere to be found to check the place out with me there…I wait until almost midnight before I finally give up and leave. Now I find out she is keeping my deposit saying the cat caused damage(this cat is 17 years old and had been declawed years ago) and is replacing a carpet because of what the cat supposedly did…lo and behold the cost is EXACTLY what my deposit was. Since she wouldn’t go through the apartment with me to look for damages how can she weeks later suddenly say she needs to replace the carpet and I will be paying for it?
I was reading another post about a similiar situation but didn’t want to hijack that thread so I ask you…is there anything I can do about getting my deposit back? I had NO damage from when I lived there…sadly no wild parties…no illicit stains…no broken lamps. Also when I moved in to this apartment she never cleaned anything…she had to move quickly and didn’t do the normal clean up one would expect renting out to someone new.
She in fact left an inordinate amount of her things in this apartment and “kindly” didn’t charge ME for my using them…a tv…stereo…cabinet…couple lamps…85% of the cabinets were full with her things…plus the storage area that I was supposed to have use of was entirely filled with her things. In this kind of circumstance how can she get away with keeping my deposit?
I’ve gotta tell you, though, those of us who don’t own cats consider the lingering smell of cat urine to be devastating damage, whereas you cat owners consider it to be one of those endearingly kooky and inevitable things about cat ownership.
The only way you can get it back is to sue her. She will have to prove some damage to the carpet. You can’t prove that you didn’t damage it because you (I assume) didn’t take any pictures when you left. You should always do that…but I know that it is too late now.
I don’t understand how she got a Sheriff to deliver an eviction notice with out taking you to court.
Only chance is suing. When in a hostile landlord-renter relationship, I always advise people to do what I did the last time I moved: tell them to keep the last month’s rent as security (obviously, only works when equivalent amts.).
Yes, they can sue YOU for it, but the fact is that most people won’t bother (just like you probably won’t bother suing her). In general, whoever has the deposit money in-hand at time of move-out wins.
To add to what’s been said, if you sue, you’ll probably do it in small claims court, which is far less of a nightmare than big claims court. It depends on where you live, but in Ohio, the landlord is required to give you an itemized accounting of the security deposit. If you disagree, you can sue in small claims court for twice the ammount withheld.
Do a google search for “renters rights” + your state. “Tenant rights” might also help.
IANAL but I am a landlord. Sounds like a case best resolved in small claims court. You’ll need to do some homework like Winsling suggests because everything depends on what state and even city you live in. Before appearing in court, get yourself prepared. Here are some suggestions:
A week or so before your case comes up, visit the small claims court where you’ll be heard, and watch how things are conducted. You’ll feel much more comfortable at your own hearing with this small amount of experience under your belt.
Can you find out who installed the new carpet? If so talk to the installer and see if he remembers and cat urine problems. Ultimately he may be reluctant to testify against a paying customer, so you might have a witness around when you talk to him. Normally your witness’s account would be thrown out as hearsay, but in small claims, hearsay is often acceptable.
Think about the case you want to present. It looks like you have two separate but related complaints. One is that the landlord broke the lease and unfairly evicted you. The other is the deposit. Think about how you want to treat each one, and indeed if you want to bother with the eviction aspect. Make sure you present an organized case to the judge.
In NY, they have landlord/tenant court; you might check into that first. And when I was reasearching for my son who was in a bad position with a new landlord, I found that a lot of states have this info on the web, so, you can research it before you decide what to do. Hopefully something similar to this: http://www.nyc.gov/html/rgb/home.html