Hello Everyone:

I am new to this site & need some advice & thought this would be a great avenue. Here is my dilemma:

I had been renting a condo in PA (I live in TX) for almost a year. Since I have not been able to use the unit since March, I was looking to sub-let it. I informed the owner, about 2 months ago, that I was going to do so & she told me I could not. I told her there were not any provisions in the lease that stated otherwise & if she wanted to terminate the lease early (it was to lapse Nov. 4th, 2006) then I would be OK with that.

I was able to find someone to sub-let it but in the meantime, the owner e-mailed me & said she had found another tenant & they were going to move in Sept. 25 & wanted me to have all my items out of the unit by Sept 15th. I had a crew in & everything was out by the 14th. Here is the major problem, I prepaid rent through the end of Sept. When I received a check back from the owner, she charged me for the 10 days that she had someone come in & paint & get the place ready for the next tenant. She also charged me over $450.00 for 2 door knobs that needed to be replaced, which I don't know what she is even talking about, & also she charged me to have some closet doors put back on hinges along with a charge for a mailbox key I never received. I never received an itemized bill as to what the charges were. She just made up figures.

What can I do? I am thinking I need to send a demand letter.

Any thoughts on where I go from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Erin

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Originally Posted by ecsmall

Hello Everyone:

I am new to this site & need some advice & thought this would be a great avenue. Here is my dilemma:

I had been renting a condo in PA (I live in TX) for almost a year. Since I have not been able to use the unit since March, I was looking to sub-let it. I informed the owner, about 2 months ago, that I was going to do so & she told me I could not. I told her there were not any provisions in the lease that stated otherwise & if she wanted to terminate the lease early (it was to lapse Nov. 4th, 2006) then I would be OK with that.

I was able to find someone to sub-let it but in the meantime, the owner e-mailed me & said she had found another tenant & they were going to move in Sept. 25 & wanted me to have all my items out of the unit by Sept 15th. I had a crew in & everything was out by the 14th. Here is the major problem, I prepaid rent through the end of Sept. When I received a check back from the owner, she charged me for the 10 days that she had someone come in & paint & get the place ready for the next tenant. She also charged me over $450.00 for 2 door knobs that needed to be replaced, which I don't know what she is even talking about, & also she charged me to have some closet doors put back on hinges along with a charge for a mailbox key I never received. I never received an itemized bill as to what the charges were. She just made up figures.

What can I do? I am thinking I need to send a demand letter.

Any thoughts on where I go from here? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Erin

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Write a "nice" letter disputing the charges and asking for any "double rent" back.

Since it would not be cost effective for you to travel to PA from TX to take your landlord to Small Claims court, you might want to write it off is she does not send you any money back.

Yeah, it really depends on how much money it was. Did you pay a deposit? If so, why didn't that cover any "damages" she had fixed/repaired? I'd write to her. Are you originally from Texas? Do you file your taxes there? Is it your actual permanent address? If you can answer yes to these you may be able to sue her in Texas if they have a long-arm statute.

Thank you... yes, I did pay a deposit... I only was in the unit a total of 33 days out of the 10 months I rented it. My permanent residence is in TX. I was using the unit in PA to visit my children every month until I had my twins. The amount owed back to me is roughly $1300. What type of "nice" letter would you recommend?