Rental security deposit question

[SkylarVT]

We will in a high COL area and have been living in the same house for 7 years. When we moved in we put down a $3,000 security deposit, and our monthly rent has always been $2,000. We rent from someone who only owns two houses, (one of which he lives in), and over the years he has always been strapped for cash on necessary repairs. For the first four years we financed him by paying for the repairs out of pocket and then taking a small amount off of the rent each month. For the last three years he has started to decline paying anything at all for repairs and he either refuses to do the repair himself or he takes forever to come over and do it, (I was without a cooktop for two month after it shocked me half way across the kitchen). The house is old, (1932), and there are a lot of little things that keep breaking. Since he always says that he can't afford to repair something I have asked him several times to please use the security deposit to fix something and then pay the amount back into that account over time. From the way he responded I get the feeling that he no longer has the security deposit at all. Due to the landlords lack of care for the house, there are a ton of repairs that need to be done now and we are worried that there is no way we will get any of the deposit back, even if we sue after moving out. My husband wants to use $2,000 of the deposit as the last month's rent. Does this sound reasonable? Has anyone done this? We will only need to overlap houses for a maximum of 10 days, (new house should be ready by the 4th or 5th), after which we will be out of this house but still liable for the rest of the month since we are putting in notice on the 1st. Can we get evicted for this, and would that happen within 10 days? I really don't want an eviction on our record. Thanks.

[earthmama369]

That's a tricky area and really depends on the state you're in. However, in just about every state, the landlord is legally required to place your security deposit in an escrow account with an accredited bank and can NOT touch it until you move out and certain requirements have been satisfied (in many states, that means doing a final walk through with you and providing a written list of any legally-allowable damages within 30 days). In some states, failure to do so results in the landlord owing you double the security deposit, regardless of damages. If he doesn't have your security deposit any more, that's a real issue.

[RiverSky]

You should try to find out if your area has a Landlord and Tenant board or Landlord/Tenant Act and figure out who you can contact to figure this out. I'd personally be tempted to call my local area political representative to find out who I should call, if I couldn't find out by looking through my phone book.

You don't even mention what country you are in. If you give a more specific area, you would probably get more specific advice.

[SkylarVT]

I am located in California. As far as I know the landlord is only required to have a seperate escrow account if he/she has more than 20 units. I am 99% sure that he no longer has the security deposit based on what he said over the course of a few conversations. Besides all of the undone repairs we were actually very concerned that he would be forclosed on soon, which is why we started looking at houses, (that and our pool is green and he will not put in a new filter). I will look for a local landlord/tenant board.

[VisionaryMom]

Definitely check the laws in your area. We actually got a great deal once because Ohio has this odd law that if a landlord doesn't provide you with a written statement of repairs within 30 days of moving out, you get twice your deposit back. We found that out when we moved because our landlord wouldn't do repairs, and he tried to sue us. He actually ended up owing us money from that fiasco.

Anyway, definitely check the laws. In theory, the security deposit is usable for a last month's rent, but your landlord may not see it that way. Do you really think he'll report it to your credit, though, if he's lax about the property? I don't know that there would be an eviction on your records. I'd probably just give him 30 days (or whatever is required) notice and be done with him.

[montlake]

Check your lease, too. I can tell you ours specifically states you cannot use the deposit for the last month's rent. He could sue you for the rent for that month, plus late fees for each day, plus any penalties (if any are included in the lease) for violating the terms of the contract.

[neetling]

could you just ask him? If he doesn't have the money to give back the deposit, maybe this would solve the dilemma for both of you.

[Sarah W]

Like PP has mentioned, he likely has to put it in an interest bearing account. In many places, he can't use your deposit for the last month's rent.

[mamadonna]

How have you documented your requests for repairs? I would say the main issue in terms of the things that have broken and are in disrepair would be to have some sort of documentation showing that you reported problems and the landlord did not fix them.

I was in this situation a year ago. We were moving out. There were two huge leaks that were causing a great deal of ongoing damage. We had reported them but the landlord was doing nothing to fix them. We were concerned he might just walk away from the house and we would be out our deposit. We were worried that, even if we sued, we'd never see the money.

We were sorely tempted not to pay last month's rent. in the end we did pay it, though, because we wanted to be on the right side of the law. Fortunately, it all worked out and we got our deposit back.

The one thing working in your favor in California is that your landlord has 21 days to refund your deposit (or a portion of it with an itemized list of what's been deducted from it). Once the 21 days are up, legally they have to refund you the entire deposit.

The one thing you might do is ask whether he'd be willing to make a deal to take last month's rent out of the security deposit, but I wouldn't actually do it unless you have it in writing.

I remember being in this situation and how my stomach was in knots over it. It's really, really hard to pay that last month's rent when you're frustrated and worried that you're never going to see your deposit.

[mamadonna]

Forgot to add this site if you haven't found it already--http://www.hud.gov/local/ca/renting/tenantrights.cfm