Ask Me Help Desk - Can a landlord keep both last month's rent AND a security deposit after 1 year?

I have a question about a Pennsylvania real estate law and landlord keeping last month's rent and a security deposit after 1 year of residency.

I signed a rental agreement for a house in which I currently live in August, 2008. At that time, I paid the landlord first AND last months' rent as well as a security deposit to move in. The lease states that the security deposit was NOT put into an escrow account, which, as I understand PA law, is OK practice for the landlord for the first two years of the rental agreement (please correct me if I am wrong).

Here is my question: According to what I have read, at the beginning of the lease term and for the first year, the landlord can ask for the first month's rent, the last month's rent and the security deposit. BUT, at the beginning of the second year of a lease, the landlord may NOT keep a security deposit equal to more than one month's rent and must return any money over one month's rent which the landlord still has. Am I correct in interpreting this to mean that my landlord LEGALLY should have refunded the last month's rent at the beginning of the second year of residency? The lease went month to month after one year; does this have an impact on his returning our "last month's" rent after the first year?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDtenant

I... According to what I have read, ... at the beginning of the second year of a lease, the landlord may NOT keep a security deposit equal to more than one month's rent ... The lease went month to month after one year; does this have an impact on his returning our "last month's" rent after the first year?...

Maybe I'm missing something, but if you didn't renew your lease after the first year, how does what you have read regarding the Pennsylvania law about the second year of a lease have any application? You don't have a second-year lease.

The lease I signed reads as follows: HOLDOVER BY LESSEE. Should Lessee remain in possession of the Demised Premises with the consent of Lessor after the natural expiration of this lease, a new month-to-month tenancy shall be created between Lessor and Lessee which shall be subject to all the terms and conditions hereof but shall be terminated on sixty (60) days written notice served by either Lessor or Lessee on the other party.

So according to my landlord, our lease automatically renewed and became month-to-month. I never signed any paperwork at the end of the first year, so I guess the question is now two-fold: First, do I even have a lease with the landlord since I did not sign any paperwork after the expiration of the original one year lease; and second: if I do have a lease, should I have been refunded the last month's rent after the end of the first year of residency regardless of the terms of the subsequent lease?

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDtenant

... First, do I even have a lease with the landlord since I did not sign any paperwork after the expiration of the original one year lease; and

No, you have a tenancy. And it's month-to-month.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDtenant

... second: if I do have a lease, should I have been refunded the last month's rent after the end of the first year of residency regardless of the terms of the subsequent lease?

Hey, make the argument. Maybe your LL won't analyze it like I do. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDtenant

Can a landlord keep both last month's rent AND a security deposit after 1 year?

Hello Ed:

Maybe I'm missing something here. That's entirely possible because I miss stuff all the time...

Nonetheless, the law or the lease have NOTHING to do with what he can keep or not. He can't enrich himself to the tune of a months rent at your expense when you didn't reside there. I can't tell if that happened. Nor can I tell if you're attempting to live there for a month without paying rent. Additionally, I heard NOTHING about damage, or the allegation of damage, so I presume that the entire security deposit would be returned once the tenancy is over... That would assume too, that you're not attempting to "live" out your deposit as your last months rent, and I can't tell if you're trying to do that either.

I suggest the question you asked is moot depending on what actually happens.

excon

Hello! I'm having almost the same problem as you (here in Florida) and I don't know how to solve it.
My boyfriend and I rented this house exactly one year ago.
We gave them 3 thousand dollars. The first and last rent, plus deposit.
When was the beginning of February 2011, my boyfriend sent the rent money without realizing that this was our last months rent.
He called the landlord and she said that will not return the money because it will be for the last month of our second year's rent.
I believe that by law she can not do that. She can not stay with the last month of a lease agreement that already ended, much less use this money for a second contract. I think you can only collect the last month of rent when a tenant that signed the contract for the first time.
The owner sent us a new lease totally different from the first, where I can not find the one thousand dollars from last month's rent. Just shows the value that we will be paying in the month's rent and deposit.
She also made it clear, almost like a threat, that if we resolved not to pay the next month, using this as the last months of rent, she will increase the rent.
She Add the new lease as our responsibility the exterior of the house, as the roof, water treatment, foundations, including fire detector (which is not in the house and I think may be required by law), extermination of wood-destroying organisms, electrical system, etc. .
This house is in short sale. The owners do not want to fix anything that is broken. The house has two bathrooms, but we can only use one, because the owners never agreed to fix the shower in one of the bathrooms. Things that were already broken before we moved.
When we moved into this house, it was totally destroyed and dirty.
We fixed the garden, took over 15 garbage cans of dirt from the garden, plus the inside.
We even painted the walls that was to dirt to be clean.

What should I do?
If I sign the contract being responsible for everything that is being broken, and has a lot that was already broken (they never check), I'll probably lose the deposit.
If I refuse to accept the contract that way, she can tell us to leave the house, not pay the deposit nor the last month's rent that is with her.