My landlord refuses to return any of my $1,200 security deposit. Her reason was that I violated the lease (didn't keep the unit sanitary) and that I didn't maintain the yard properly.

She put a note on my door requesting me to vacate within two weeks stating the sections of the lease I supposedly violated. Her reasoning was that the house was not kept sanitary. She entered the premises without my permission or my knowledge and took photos. She claims that the house was filthy and unsanitary. She also maintains that I did not maintain the landscaping. There was a provision stated in the lease allowing her to enter to check the condition.

I will not argue that the house was not neatly kept, and they may have been some dishes in the sink that were not cleaned. The dishwasher never cleaned the dishes very well so I had to hand wash them, that is if I had time right then. Regardless of our definition of "sanitary or filthy" there was not "garbage" everywhere as she claimed. I did have papers around because I had gone through old mail and had not yet thrown it away, but in no way did this warrant a lease violation. There were no insect or rodent issues, nor was there any damage done to her floors from my mail all over the floor.

She also claims that I did not properly maintain the landscaping, yet I have receipts for the past 6 months for lawn services specifying what services were completed, including fertilizing the lawn.

Does a landlord have a legal right to charge $900 to $1,100 for tree trimming as a deduction from a security deposit? She came up with this number based on what she has paid in the past for her landscaping bills, but how am I to know what this even included and if it is even legitimate. I've read the lease and there were no specifics mentioned other than the tenant will properly maintain the lawn, trees, shrubs, etc. She never ever gave me specific instructions of how and when to trim things.

Please advise me if I have a right to take her to small claims court and if you believe I have a good chance.

Thank You

So she feels you should have paid to have the trees trimmed?
I would say that is a bit unreasonable, I can't see how it is the tenants responsibility to do more than reasonable yard work.
I would take any and ALL photos and receipts and haul her into court and let the Judge decide.

For one, she has to give you an itemized list of deductions for what she ACTUALLY DID do to fix your neglect,
For two, it sounds like she didn't and doesn't even plan to have the tree trimmed,
For three, it sounds like a Judge very likely would view the photos she took as just an off day and nothing out of the ordinary,
So I would take her to court since she hasn't given you an itemized list and proof of receipts of what she HAS actually done.

I gather you moved. It is likely she violated the law with only a two week notice.

But if you have already moved, then how you kept the house is a moot point. The only question is how the property was left. To keep the deposit or any part of it, she has to give you an itemized list of expenses actually incurred to restore the property. If she does not do that, then take her to court.

Thanks for both of your responses.

She actually had found a buyer for the house and she was just looking for an excuse to get me to move quickly, but I never thought she would so heartless as to keep my entire security deposit.

She even went as far as to try to "itemize" in her expenses the cleaning services that were offered to me by the new owners. They needed to move quickly, and with her very short notice I barely had time to pack and get movers set up, let alone scrub tile floors and wash windows (the new owners did this work). Sadly, they cleaned the place better than when she turned it over to me for a rental.

What is involved in taking someone to small claims court? Obvisouly I don't have any money; she's got $1,200 of my money that I had expected to get back.

Boy did you blow it. Did you know she had a buyer?

You had the upper hand and you let it go. She had to give you at least 30 days notice to terminate the lease. Also the new owners would have to honor your lease. So you could have been able to get them to pay you to move.

Each small claims court is slightly different, so you need to check with the courts in your area. Generally there is a small filing fee. Then all you need to show is she didn't follow the law.

I would add that you should also sue her for illegal eviction. Try and get your moving expenses from her. And if you're paying more rent in your new place than you were in your old place then you may be able to sue for the difference as well.

Yes get her for illegal eviction AND withholding your security deposit improperly and illegally. I believe landlords have something like two weeks to send you your security deposit and an itemized list of the deductions to restore what you failed to clean and fix upon your moving.
Also as Scott pointed out how you kept it and how you left it are two different things so don't let her try and say the pictures represent how you left the place if you cleaned it when you moved. It is always best to take picture or cam corder the place before you move in and once you move out.

My landlord actually did have two valid charges; one was for a broken window that I tried to open after Hurricane Ike (the window had been nailed shut), and second is to replace the garage door opener (which melted when my car caught on fire in an accident).

She is trying to charge $200 for cleaning services, that the new owners actually performed, and they had it even cleaner than when I moved in. They completely cleaned the inside and outside of the windows, cleaned all of the grime out of the window tracks, and they even scrubbed the grout on the tile so that it looked completely new.

I tried to get my landscaping company to go to the house and give me an estimate for trimming things up so I would have proof of what the actual cost might be -- the only problem was she was at the house when they showed up and told them to leave; that everything had been taken care of. I can, however, provide the receipts for the yard work that they performed for me at the rental from August through January. Will this be enough or would I need to have pictures showing the condition of the yard when I vacated?

What I need to know is what is my next step in moving forward with taking her to small claims court? Do I need to first send her a letter requesting the actual receipts for the "damages"? Do I send her a letter requesting the return of my security deposit? The only correspondence we had with one another was email, where she listed the charges and her explanations for them. To this day she has never shown me receipts for anything cleaning services, lawn services or actual repairs.

I will also note that the new "owners" moved in on February 11, but after speaking with them on February 19, they still had not even closed on the sale of the property and had some sort of "agreement" with the owner. My guess is that my $1,200 security deposit was used to pay their first month's rent.

Any thoughts or suggestions from anyone?

LM

Well first, unless she supplied a written itemization within the time she may have forfeited the right to withhold anything. If she did file on time, then she has to provide invoices to show the work was done. You can try to get counter estimates that show she overcharged.

In that case, the illegal eviction looms larger as it attacks her credibility.