Hi, I have been living in an apartment for the last 7 months and we recently purchased a home. The landlord agreed to let me out of my lease agreement as long as I found someone to rent the apartment. I placed an ad in the newspaper and I paid the rent for the last two months even though I didn't live there. The landlord did find someone and I returned the keys and I got the apartment ready for the new tenets. It has been over a month and I haven't seen my security deposit so I called the landlord. She stated that the new tenets backed out and they never moved in. She stated that she didn't send my security deposit because she lost my address. I gave it to her again and it has been 2 weeks and I still haven't seen the security deposit. Does she have the right to keep the deposit due to the fact I terminated my lease early?

This depends on state law, but the odds are she can no longer do it. Most states have a rule that the deposit or an accounting of how it was used has to be returned within a set time frame. Usually a month or less. Most state laws further state that if the deposit isn't returned within that time frame, then the landlord forfeits the right to withhold it and may be subject to penalties.

So you need to check the law for your state (see the sticky at the top of this forum). Then send her a certified letter citing the law and tell her, that if the deposit is not returned immediately, you will be forced to start legal action.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

This depends on state law, but the odds are she can no longer do it. Most states have a rule that the deposit or an accounting of how it was used has to be returned within a set time frame. Usually a month or less. Most state laws further state that if the deposit isn't returned within that time frame, then the landlord forfeits the right to withhold it and may be subject to penalties.

So you need to check the law for your state (see the sticky at the top of this forum). Then send her a certified letter citing the law and tell her, that if the deposit is not returned immediately, you will be forced to start legal action.

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Thank you Scott :)

I'm not sure what your state laws are but if your break your lease here in Wisconsin, the landlord is allowed to charge you rent for each month that remains in the lease; the other side to that coin is that the landlord needs to make reasonable efforts to re-rent your apartment. If the landlord makes reasonable efforts and cannot re-rent the apartment, then you need to pay. If the landlord doesn't try to re-rent the apartment, then you're off the hook.

How long was the term of your lease? Was rent paid for each month? Either way, in most states the landlord is required to send you a letter within a specific timeframe(it's 21 days here) after you surrender the property; they either need to a) return your deposit in full or b) send you an itemization of deductions that were taken from the deposit.

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Originally Posted by this8384

I'm not sure what your state laws are but if your break your lease here in Wisconsin, the landlord is allowed to charge you rent for each month that remains in the lease; the other side to that coin is that the landlord needs to make reasonable efforts to re-rent your apartment. If the landlord makes reasonable efforts and cannot re-rent the apartment, then you need to pay. If the landlord doesn't try to re-rent the apartment, then you're off the hook.

How long was the term of your lease? Was rent paid for each month? Either way, in most states the landlord is required to send you a letter within a specific timeframe(it's 21 days here) after you surrender the property; they either need to a) return your deposit in full or b) send you an itemization of deductions that were taken from the deposit.

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I live in Wisconsin. My lease is up in January. In September we moved but I continued to pay rent till the landlord found someone to rent it in October. The problem I have is the landlord called me in the middle of October and stated the people that were suppose to move in on the 3rd of October backed out and the apartment is still empty. So that is were there is a confusion. I gave notice, we both agreed to early termination of the lease, it was rented (I turned in my keys) >is it my fault they backed out< I moved out 35 days ago and I never received any letter. The landlord did state she is giving me my security deposit back but that was over 2 weeks ago.

If the replacement tenants never signed a lease, then you're still obligated to pay rent until January if the apartment cannot be re-rented. It's not your fault that the new tenants backed out; however, you broke the lease which caused the need for the new tenants so you're still liable.

If your landlord is only keeping your security deposit(which I assume is equivalent to one month's rent) and not charging you for Nov, Dec & Jan rent, then I'd consider myself lucky.