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Pinky Toe · Jun 26, 2007, 08:12 AM

He is a sleeze and your predictions sound about right. That sucks. Well, I am a very determined person and will fight tooth & nail. But that still may not be enough. It makes me sick to know I may never see that money. Damn it.

treyball3 · Jul 5, 2007, 07:47 AM

**UPDATE: We sent a certified letter to the landlords demanding back the deposit and the prorated rent for 11 days of moving out early. They sent us a check for the prorated rent but said they were keeping the deposit. The reason they gave was "The lease also stated no pets, for which you had a cat, gives us the legal right to retain your deposit". (grammar in letter).

First of all, in Nebraska, the law says the landlord can't take more than 1/3 of a month's rent for a pet deposit (Nebraska Revised Statutes) and secondly, the cat thing went like this...

My wife and her roommate moved in to the place in Jan of 2006. They started moving stuff in slowly over a week and then moved in. Before they moved in, they had a cat. The landlord didn't get them the lease until 3 days after they moved in. They hadn't even seen it yet. Anyway, after reading over the lease they found it said no pets. They called the landlord to ask if they could make an exception. She said no. So, they promptly got rid of the cat (within a day or two, as soon as they could find a home for it) and signed the lease, thinking nothing else of it.

Fast forward to spring 2007... they are on a month to month lease. The roommate mentions to the landlords that they might be done in May because they are both graduating, but nothing was ever formalized or put in writing. Then in late April the landlords tell them they have to be out May 15th. The rent is due the 1st, so this is definitely not one full rental period. (They later gave them until the 20th, but still not a full rental period). The reason they gave to be out is because they claim my wife didn't pay rent for June, July and August of last year and that they had a cat. She DID pay them rent, they just lost the check. They admitted to the roommate that they do that on occasion. Unfortunately, my wife has never been very good about keeping her checkbook up-to-date, so she didn't notice they never cashed it. So, my wife got a letter from the landlords saying that she had to pay by the 20th claiming that since she didn't pay rent for those 3 months, that they have the right to give only 3 day notice of lease termination, instead of 30. Which, I'm pretty sure isn't legal (its a 3 day pay or quit right? We paid), but my wife didn't want to fight about it. So, we sent them a check for those 3 months of rent and had her moved out by the 20th.

Ok, so the questions are these... First, is it legal for them to keep the deposit for having a cat or for making "late" payments? What about the fact that they didn't say anything about the cat for a year and a half and the fact that the cat was only there for a day and caused NO damage? Or about the "late" rent for almost a year? (if they would've mentioned that it was late when it was late, she would've paid it then too) Are these even conditions for terminating a lease after so long? We don't have any proof that my wife DID pay them because of her not keeping a checkbook very well. All we have is a missing check number in her statements. In fact, I think she threw away most of the documentation when she moved because she was just happy to get out of there. So, we may not be able to prove the less-than-a-month-notice thing, but can we at least go after our deposit?

Here is the full text of the latest letter:

"Enclosed is the $XXX we will repay for the early out in May, however; as stated in your landlord/tenant lease agreement, 'deposit which will be retained by the landlord, to apply to any damage or loss other than ordinary wear occurring to said premises or equipment therein, or for unpaid/late rent, for failure to abide by the terms of this agreement.' The lease also stated no pets, for which you had a cat, gives us the legal right to retain your deposit."

I guess one other question as I was typing this: can they keep the deposit for late rent? Even though it wasn't technically late? And they state the reason for keeping it is the cat, not late rent.

Thank you so much for reading this LONG post!

excon · Jul 5, 2007, 08:07 AM

Hello again, 3 balls:

No. Your deposit is not a prize to be claimed by the one who yells breech the loudest. It's a damage deposit. It's not there to make someone money. It's there to make them whole. IF your cat caused damage, and they can document the costs of repair, that money can be kept. But, not a dime more than that!

Sue 'em.

excon

ScottGem · Jul 5, 2007, 08:45 AM

I agree with what excon said, the purpose of a security deposit is primarily to secure against damages left when a tenant moves out. Many states do provide that the security can be also used against unpaid rent. But I doubt if any law states that it can be withheld because of any lease violation. Under the circumstances, I doubt if any court would find her in violation for having a cat for the few days it took to find it a home.

Second, To claim unpaid rent from a previous year as grounds for a lease violation would not stand up in court. Especially if your wife can show the cancelled checks or at least that the checks had been written. If they didn't inform her she was late, then she wouldn't be responsible. If they lost the checks, then all she has to do is replace them.

They would have had the right to give her a three day notice for non payment of rent, last summer, but not at this point.

So sue 'em.

ScottGem · Jul 5, 2007, 08:45 AM

I agree with what excon said, the purpose of a security deposit is primarily to secure against damages left when a tenant moves out. Many states do provide that the security can be also used against unpaid rent. But I doubt if any law states that it can be withheld because of any lease violation. Under the circumstances, I doubt if any court would find her in violation for having a cat for the few days it took to find it a home.

Second, To claim unpaid rent from a previous year as grounds for a lease violation would not stand up in court. Especially if your wife can show the cancelled checks or at least that the checks had been written. If they didn't inform her she was late, then she wouldn't be responsible. If they lost the checks, then all she has to do is replace them.

They would have had the right to give her a three day notice for non payment of rent, last summer, but not at this point.

So sue 'em.