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nicolemeiers · Aug 15, 2008, 07:56 PM

I signed a 1 year lease with a roommate, when the lease was up he decided to stay. The landlords took my name off the lease. Two months later I got a deposit itemized letter with a balance of 2000.00 dollars. There were things on the bill for rent which was not paid the last month the roommate was there, after I was no longer on the lease. A cleaning fee because when he moved out he did not clean the house. I asked them why my name was on the bill when I had been off the lease for 2 months, they said because we both put in the deposit, so I was getting charged 2 months after I was off the lease. Before I moved out the asked what was going to happen with the deposit, I told them do not worry he is staying if there is any money give it to him and they said fine. Do they have any right charging me for all of these things when I was no longer a tenant someone had lived there after I moved out?

N0help4u · Aug 15, 2008, 08:13 PM

I would say that since you must not have went through the apartment to itemize things when your lease was up so he now he has no idea of knowing what damages were there when you left to the time that he left. Unless you can prove the damages were done after you left then there isn't much you can do now.

nicolemeiers · Aug 15, 2008, 08:22 PM

What about the rent that I am being charged for and the cleaning fee that right there is 1,400.00 and that was two months after I moved out. I also read somewhere that they had 3 weeks to do an itemized paper and I was off the lease 2 months and 3 days before they sent anything. If they knew when I was moving out and they did not come to look at the house and bill me then instead of 2 months later wouldn't they have to prove that I did do it?

N0help4u · Aug 15, 2008, 08:34 PM

If you weren't on the lease any more then you shouldn't have to pay for the rent.
If he is trying to get more than the deposit you already gave him let him take you to court if it doesn't all add up to you.
Did he give you the copy of the itemized bill and the $2,000. Is OVER the deposit?

nicolemeiers · Aug 15, 2008, 08:43 PM

Yes it was. Some of it is also the carpet, even though on more then one occasion they said they needed to replace the carpet anyway, as soon as my ex roommate could not pay rent they did a total turn around and charged for a part of the removal, installation and purchase. I do have a copy of the report. My ex roommate doesn't argue that it is his fault but they know he can not pay so they are going after me.

LisaB4657 · Aug 15, 2008, 08:57 PM

Did you get anything in writing from the landlord to confirm that you were removed from the lease? Did you ever give them written notice that you would not be renewing the lease? If you have anything in writing that proves you were no longer a tenant then you should send them a letter demanding the return of your security deposit. And if they don't return it then you should sue them for it.

N0help4u · Aug 15, 2008, 08:58 PM

You might let them take you to court because for one it sounds like they may be charging you for normal wear and tear which you are not responsible for and the age of the carpet may make a difference too.

nicolemeiers · Aug 15, 2008, 09:03 PM

Since I did not renew my lease do they have any right sending me a bill 2 months after my lease ran out and they knew I moved. Nothing in writing but they also do not have anything in writing. My lease ended may 1st and they sent me the letter dated July 3rd.

LisaB4657 · Aug 15, 2008, 09:07 PM

You need to have something in writing to prove that you were no longer a tenant and that they acknowledged it.

If your lease did not require you to give advance notice that you would not be renewing, then do you have anything to prove that you moved out when the lease was up? If you can prove it, and if you can prove that they knew it and acknowledged it in some way, then you shouldn't have to pay them anything and you should get back your security.

If you don't want to sue them on your own then you can wait for them to sue you and then file a counterclaim for the security deposit.

nicolemeiers · Aug 16, 2008, 07:46 AM

What sort of documents would prove that we had moved out? Other than a letter from us to them stating that we were moving, which does not exist. Are receipts such as a U-haul
Receipt admissible, how about documentation from our new landlord stating when we moved into our new residence, how about witnesses who knew when we moved and saw us move, the roommate who stayed will also confirm that we moved out and that he is solely responsible for the damages. Unfortunately we were kind of new to the renting world and we didn't request any paperwork or anything, we had only lived one place before and they were so happy with the condition in which we left the property that it was
Not an issue. ( it was kind of a dump but we didn't have much choice, they didn't have a lot of documentation for anything. ) But back to the matter at hand, we didn't request any paperwork or anything because they never expressed anything but happiness with our tenancy, commending us for never being late on rent, enjoying how pleasant we were. I wouldn't say that we had been friends but we definitely weren't enemies. Our landlord was pleasant when we moved out, these problems and issues did not arrive until the person who began leasing from them, who was our roommate from before, could not pay rent. Then they performed a complete 180. Of course by this point we had been gone for over 2 months.

LisaB4657 · Aug 16, 2008, 07:54 AM

Did your lease require that you give any written notice that you would not be renewing?

N0help4u · Aug 16, 2008, 07:56 AM

I think I would use everything I could to prove my move out date. Even when landlords express things like you are a model tenant that doesn't hold up in court and many landlords WILL turn on good tenants so it is always best to get everything in writing. They are looking at you as a business transaction not buddy.
They have your deposit and I hope you have a receipt for that or at least that they don't deny you gave them a deposit. With the mess this is since it looks like they most likely can prove that they are entitled to keep the deposit I would just let them keep it and take you to court and prove you owe them for anything over and above the deposit.

LisaB4657 · Aug 16, 2008, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by N0help4u

With the mess this is since it looks like they most likely can prove that they are entitled to keep the deposit I would just let them keep it and take you to court and prove you owe them for anything over and above the deposit.

Sorry, Nohelp4u, but I disagree with this one. If the OP's lease term ended, and if the lease didn't require notice that the OP was not renewing, and if the OP can prove they moved out, then the landlord was required to return the deposit or provide a written accounting of it within 30 days. If they don't provide it within that time then they're not entitled to keep any of it.

Since this is a bit messy I would not take any action. If they sued for the damages I would file a counterclaim for the deposit and show up in court with all of my proofs that I had moved, including the U-Haul receipt, the witnesses and the former roommate.

N0help4u · Aug 16, 2008, 08:07 AM

The OP said that they told the landlord don't worry about it
The OP said the landlord provided an itemized list of repairs that exceeded the deposit

LisaB4657 · Aug 16, 2008, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by N0help4u

The OP said that they told the landlord don't worry about it
The OP said the landlord provided an itemized list of repairs that exceeded the deposit

The landlord provided that list 2 months after the OP moved out. If they wanted to hold the OP responsible for it they needed to provide it within 1 month after the OP moved out. It doesn't matter that the OP told them "don't worry about it".

nicolemeiers · Aug 16, 2008, 08:16 AM

Yes, we did tell them not to worry about it. We told them that we would leave the deposit with the new tenant. ( the roommate was my girlfriends brother and we were trying to make it easy on him. ) However, their itemized damage report never came to us until 2 months and 3 days after we had vacated the premises. Basically the way I feel about it is that the landlord knew we had moved out, but since we didn't get any paperwork stating we had or were moving out they think they can get away with charging us for it. The reason that they are doing so is because the 'roomate' who made the new lease with them cannot afford to pay them and they know it. Hope this clears up any confusion.

N0help4u · Aug 16, 2008, 08:20 AM

The problem is also that the landlord is disputing the move out date as well.
So if they can not prove the move out date was when the OP said then the 30 days was not up until the roommate moved out.

LisaB4657 · Aug 16, 2008, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by nicolemeiers

The reason that they are doing so is because the 'roomate' who made the new lease with them cannot afford to pay them and they know it. Hope this clears up any confusion.

Did the roommate sign a new lease with them that started after you moved out?

(Please answer this question. This is very important.)

LisaB4657 · Aug 16, 2008, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by N0help4u

The problem is also that the landlord is disputing the move out date as well.

They are? I didn't see that.

nicolemeiers · Aug 16, 2008, 08:26 AM

We'll have to get back to you on whether the prior roommate signed a new lease. This is what was supposed to happen and what they said would, but we don't know if it ever did.