I live in a college town where leases are done on a quarterly (3 month) basis. In September of '08, five friends and I found a place we wanted to live. We looked at the house and it was in fine condition, but this was hard to determine since the house was already occupied by other students. We paid our security deposit and signed the lease.

The move in Date specified on the lease was June 21st at 8 AM. We arrived shortly after 8, got the keys from the landlord only to discover the house had been destroyed. The entire house smelled of urine (the lease says no pets), the carpet was completely ruined and the urine had gone through the carpet into the wood. Every wall had multiple holes that looked like they had been punched there. The ceiling fans were broken and the central air did not work. In the basement, there was dog poop on on the floor, no finished walls in the bed room and no ceiling. There were many places throughout the house where mold was growing. The lease as well as the landlord stated that there were 6 bedrooms but we found out upon moving in there is no way 2 of the bedrooms are habitable. We contacted our landlord and he agreed to replace the carpet and fix the holes in the wall. We feel that this will not fix the fact that the house is a mess and not safe to live in.

On top of all this he was a complete d*ck about the situation. Is this a breach of the lease? The house was not able to move in at the day and time specified on our lease. We have many pictures of all the health hazzards and unfit living conditions. Our ideal situation would be to get back our security deposit and part ways with this landlord and move into a better house. Is this reasonable? All help would be appreciated. Thank you

Hello nk:

If you took pictures and DIDN'T move it, then I think you can get your deposit back, plus damages in terms of having to find temporary housing.

IF you moved in, it looks like you accepting things as they were.

excon

First, You should have been able to tour the house to determine the number of bedrooms, etc. But the damage probably occurred afterwards.

Not having the premises in move in condition on 6/21 was a breach of contract. Tell the landlord in writing, that you consider the lease void and expect the immediate return of the deposit.

Thanks a lot everyone... We saw the place in terrible condition and told the landlord that there was no way we would move in. We took plenty of pictures of all the mold, holes in the walls, terrible carpet, dog poop, sub-standard living conditions, missing fire detectors, no fire escapes plus plenty of other good photos. We did not move a single thing into the house. He wanted to just replace the carpet and fix the walls and call it liveable, which he is doing currently. We have friends who work for the landlord and they said that he is already remodeling and trying to find other tennants. I think he knows he is screwed and we know he is screwed. We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a student attourney to give us some more legal advice. If there is anything else you think I should know, or any other tips, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks again everyone, you are very helpful.

Basically easy, if he will not return your money, sue him in small claims court,
Opinion, see no reason you can not win.

Also if another place cost more because of last minute changes, I would include the amount of extra rent you had to pay somewhere else as damages, You may not get it, but I would try

Not only the amount of extra rent, but any expenses you incurred because the premises was not ready. Temporary living expenses, storage of your belongings etc. The landlord was clearly negligent by not providing liveable accommodations and is therefore liable.