[Jene]

I live in Kansas and am having a problem getting my landlord to cooperate. She first began by saying I never paid a deposit. I gave her the exact month and check number which I did. On ALL of my checks for rent and the deposit, I have indicated the month on the memo line. Our lease began in July but a lease agreement was never signed. I paid in September $150 for a deposit. I knew I had to pay one and had the money at the time. When signing the lease, I noticed I was to only pay $166.67. I mentioned this to the landlord and she said we would square up later since it was my deposit and didn't want to mess it up. She is now saying that she took that $150 to be an extra month's rent instead of the deposit. If that were the case, she never called me to say I've paid too much in rent. Our lease is coming up this year and we are moving out this weekend. I have given her 30 days plenty of notice of the June 15th lease end date. She has claimed that I never paid the deposit, even though she looked at the check that I gave her saying "deposit and September rent". She has tried in several ways of saying "i never paid a deposit." I have all of my checks with the month written in the memo portion. My main question is this. Since I have lived there I have never called or had any problems with her. This was my first time renting and didn't know much about it. I knew there was a lease and guidelines and such but have never had a problem. She has usually given each past tenant their FULL deposit back even though she has not inspected the house for over 4 years, maybe more. She did not do a walk-through with me or the last tenant that moved out. The last tenant never swept the carpets, shampooed them or any other part of the house. I live with 2 other roommates that were there before I moved in. I am engaged to one of them and she is now saying we are a package deal and that any changes affect us both, not just our individual portion of rent or deposit. She doesn't ever call me concerning my portion of the deposit, she always calls my fiancé which he says to call me. She is finally coming to inspect the house after we move out this weekend. She is coming on Monday. I am cleaning the entire house and shampooing the entire house as instructed by her. My question (since I've been explaining more) is "Can I get my full deposit back?" The lease says no sticky stuff on the walls, nails, screws, and not to fix these things if they are there. I have not done anything to damage the house since I have lived there. There was, prior to my moving in, damage like holes in the walls, nails, and screws from past tenants. But since she has not inspected the house before, can I be held liable for the previous damage? I did not think or know to make sure she inspects it or write any damage down before as this was my first time renting. Help!

[Apartment RO]

I'm in a very similar situation with being a first time renter (last year). My now former landlord did not do any type of inspection when I moved in. With that being my first apartment, I didn't know any better. The last few months of my tenancy I had to really cover my a$$ once I realized that my landlord was a snake.

I knew my landlord could not claim damages for what is considered "normal wear and tear". Normal Wear and Tear Apartment Cleaning Landlord Tenants or Nolo: Law Books, Legal Forms and Legal Software - search normal wear and tear or security deposit. And I don't know if this is different in every state, but in my state you may request to see the previous tenants record of inspection from when they vacated and the landlord must present you a copy. That may be helpful.

I cleaned my apartment until it was in better than ever condition. But since my landlord had not replaced the carpeting, painted the walls, or replace the appliances in years - I did my best & it still looked kind of crappy. I took well over a hundred pictures of every square inch of the place as well as video. I wouldn't put it past this guy to kick in a wall and say it was me. I collected as much hard copy evidence as I could. I'm glad I did because now I am going to court.

My landlord was 7 days late on returning my security deposit as well as some other credits that are owed to me. He did however send me a check. Too bad he is about $500 bucks short, did not list any said damages, forgot to include my rent credit from when the new tenant moved in, and over charged me for the utilities - yet again! I have been fortunate enough to have an attorney on retainer and today we decided to sue him. My situation has been a pure nightmare, but I have learned a tremendous amount about renting laws. This is a great website with very knowledgeable people. As well as searching on Google - several websites will come up in regards to renting. I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about landlord-tenant rights. I hope everything works out for you!

Everyone who replied to my posts a few months back were right - he wasn't going to give me my deposit.