[citizenb]

I have been renting a room in a single family home in Maryland for the past 2 years (I have had other room-mates move in and out during the time I've been here, and currently have 2 guys living in the other 2 bedrooms, but we all have separate leases), and I gave my 30 days notice to move out on March 31st (I have been living on a month-to-month lease after my initial 6-month leases expired on Oct. 1st, 2005).

When I gave my landlady my 30-days notice, I asked that she be with me on the day that I move out to inspect the premises to make sure of it being in good condition, but I've just received a letter from her last night indicating that she plans to be over at 9am that morning, which I consider too early, as I plan to be returning the Uhaul truck that I'm renting by 10am that morning. I then plan to do a final vaccuming, cleaning, and checking on various places to make sure I've taken out all of my belongings, etc. I may plan to call her to have her come over later in the day, but if she refuses or indicates that she's not available at any other time that day, then I'll appease her by indicating that's fine, and she'll have to come over within 5 days of my move out date (as such, from checking online for what's allowed in Maryland, she can come over up to 5 days before or 5 days after my move out date), so I won't argue with her if she insists on coming over at 9am anyway. I don't consider myself to have a good relationship with her (misunderstandings soon after I moved in over various things has lead to certain misgivings between the 2 of us).

I am just concerned about what's considered normal wear & tear vs. damage... I had done some spray-painting of my metal bedframe in the bedroom, and small patches of the spray-paint landed on small sections of the wall, and I wonder if my landlady is within her rights to charge me for the repainting of the room, or should I attempt to spot-paint the aforementioned sections of the wall myself in an effort to avoid being charged for it. Because of the "not good" relationship between us, I have concerns that she may overcharge me for the repainting (if she charges me at all), as I know that she and her husband (and also her father) have done everything in the house themselves, between, painting the walls, electrical work, plumbing work, renovating the bathroom, etc. and I would hate the idea of them bringing in a professional painter to paint the walls, when it's most likely something that they'll do themselves, and I'm wondering about just spot-cleaning or spot-painting these parts of the bedroom walls themselves.

The rest of the house (and bedroom) is in pretty good shape, and I have no concerns, as they are the common, shared areas for use with my other roommates, and if there's any "damage", she cannot necessarily blame me for them. But, having said that, she did have us all sign on the initial set of house rules, and included a rule about not using nails on the walls, and otherwise she would charge $10 per hole. At the time, I disputed that particular rule, as I mentioned having a lot of pictures, and had nowhere else to put them but on the walls, and so she said she'd let that one go for me, and to make a notation to that effect on the houserules, and to then initial, which I did. "Both of us signed the House Rules document, which to me indicated that she was OK with me hanging pictures on the wall (as she didn't initial my notation). Afterwards, I noticed a fair share of holes in the walls, which I never mentioned to her, but a later room-mate did mention the excessive amounts of holes in the walls (not related to the pictures I had already hung up), and she told him that there wasn't a problem with that either...

Any advise/information would be much appreciated!

[ScottGem]

Unless you are sure you can match the paint, I wouldn't spot paint. She would be within her rights to repaint the room and charge you for it. So you have a choice. Either you hire a painter and pay them yourself, or you get an estimate and show it to her and say you understand that they have a right to repaint, this is what you expect it to cost and how much she can deduct from your deposit for repainting.