Queensarita
Jul 3, 2007, 07:18 AM
We gave 30 days notice to our landlord (as per lease agreement) on May 1st. We had moved mostly everything out by May 14th, except for our phone and computer and a few odds and ends. We didn't have phone/computer service hooked up at the new place yet. On May 14th, I came to the house to check email and phone messages. New tenants open the front door with a key our landlord had given them, without ANY notice or discussion with us. I call her immediately and she tells me that the new tenants want to clean and paint before they move in. I agreed to leave if she refunded 1/2 month's rent ($300.00.) Now, it's July 2nd and she sends me a security deposit deducting $150.00 for cleaning (we left early at her request... and there is no itemized list of what was cleaned) and she is only giving us $40.00 for leaving early, claiming that the new tenants didn't actually pay her any rent until July 1st. Since it was a verbal agreement to leave 15 days early, is there any way I can get the $300.00 she agreed to refund us? Is there any legal recourse for her giving the keys to a new tenant while we were still renting? Is there some place to report a bad landlord? I have done research for our state (Michigan) and have not found anything specific in the law or any established Michigan bad landlord list.