Ask Me Help Desk - Ex Landlord Withholding Rent after house sold

Me and my Fiancé were renting a house we knew was up for sale. We moved into it in Sept. 07. The landlord told us that the contract was up w/ the Realtor in Nov. and he would take it off the market then. However it stayed on the market. And we continued to allow people to disrupt our daily life to see the house. On Feb. 16 2008 the landlord came to pick up rent as usual and told us someone was interested in buying the house. He didn't know if there loan would go through and not to worry about packing, and that on the 29th he would let us know for sue. Well we called them on March 1st to find out if it sold or not. The wives response was oh I think so. So again no answers. Next day landlord comes over and puts in new baseboard heaters upstairs and tells us yes it sold and it transfers over on the 7th, but didn't know what the new owners wanted us to do. Now our lease said we would receive 45 day notice to vacate should new buyer require such. The Realtor said we absolutely had to be out by the 7th. Which we did try to do. However having a son born only in Oct. 07 and having 2 cats it was hard to find a place that we could afford. We told them that was impossible on March, 5th. March 6th there was an eviction notice on our door saying we were given notice on Feb. 16th to vacate by March 7th. We spoke w/ the buyers and they asked us to be out by 3/28 we moved out on 3/21. The house was under the new owners possession by then. Now here is the confusing part. Who do we sue for the Security Deposit. When a house sells usually the lease is to pass to the new owner which would mean the old landlords should have handed the security to the new owners. That never happened. We just need to make sure we are suing the right people so this doesn't end up a costly thing for us. We had the new owners walk through and check out everything to make sure there was no damage from us. We sent a certified letter to the business address of the old landlord which then ended up having to hand deliver a 2nd notice of our new address because they never signed for the letter, had it redelivered or went to the post office to pick it up. Please anyone who can help do so..

You have to sue everyone. You don't know what happened at the closing between the old owner and the new owner and if the deposit was transferred. So you have to sue both of them. If the new owner never received the deposit then the case against them will be dismissed.

According the new owners of the home whom we have stayed in contact with they said it was never handed over. They also said that there lawyers and the old landlords lawyers had gotten together and decided that it is up to our old landlords to withhold or pay. I just need to get the professional opinion from someone that knows if by that being said is that binding? I'm horrible at just plainly saying what needs to be said because I've just got so much going through my mind on what I need to know.

It doesn't matter what the new owners or the lawyers said. You have no way of knowing if those people were lying to you to avoid having to pay you. And I am willing to bet that if you only sued the old landlord, he would appear in court and swear that he transferred the deposit to the new owners. So you would be stuck.

You have to file against both of them, since the new people owned the house at the time you moved out.

First you were cheated and lied to. You had 45 days according to the lease, and the new landlord (owner) has to honor that. So they had to legally give you 45 day notice to move. They could not evict you before that, all you had to do was laugh at them, and show up in court with a copy of your lease and find out about a counter suit for harassment.

The new owner should have gotten credit for your deposit, but I would just sue all of them, and even consider asking for damages for a illegal eviction ( hope you keep a copy of the eviction notice) and what the heck I would include the real estate agent, since they were a party to the illegal eviction.

I still have the lease and the eviction notice all of our rent receipts, copies of the notices I wrote to them for the forwarding address. We gave the forwarding address to the new owners as well to cover our asses both ways. There are no lawyers in my general area that handle tenant landlord disputes which is why I had to come on here to try and get answers. I called one set of lawyers for some free legal advice they answered all the questions we already knew w/o telling us what we actually needed to know.

What if the new owners of the house were willing to come and be witnesses for us? Would that solve the problem of not needing to bring a suit up against both groups?

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0gone0o

What if the new owners of the house were willing to come and be witnesses for us? Would that solve the problem of not needing to bring a suit up against both groups??

Yes. But you're still taking a chance. What if the deposit had been given to them as a credit against the purchase price during the closing and they just didn't realize it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0gone0o

What if the new owners of the house were willing to come and be witnesses for us? Would that solve the problem of not needing to bring a suit up against both groups??

The problem is you don't know if they got credit for the deposit or not, normally in a sale, the deposit money is figured in as a credit at closing.
So you will have to actually review the closing records to know,

But then, the past owner may have turned over a bank account with the deposit money also.

So what if you go to court, sueing the old owner, but he proves that he passed the money to the new owner, so now you have to go back and start a brand new law suit.

From a purely legal standpoint, the new owner is your current landlord and he is now resonsible for the lease. So it is the new landlord who is suppose to pay your deposit back to you. But if he has not gotten it, then it is only fair for the old landlord to pay it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by o0gone0o

There are no lawyers in my general area that handle tenant landlord disputes which is why I had to come on here to try and get answers. I called one set of lawyers for some free legal advice they answered all the questions we already knew w/o telling us what we actually needed to know.

Hello o:

While some of us are schmucks, Lisa IS a real estate attorney who KNOWS her stuff. If it were me, I'd get to suing instead of arguing.

excon