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Moving Out & Landlord is a Slum Lord! Help!

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MindiL

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Wisconsin

My family relocated to a small town in Northern Wisconsin in June. We are trying to sell a house so forced to rent for a while. We found a house big enough but it was less than desirable. The house was not cleaned when we moved in and it was gross, I mean gross! I spent 1 whole day shampooing carpets, and a week cleaning, i.e., washing walls, cielings, scrubbing woodwork, cabinets, toilets, mold off of walls, grease off cabinets. Had to clean the oven 3 times it was so gross. The cost of cleaning and supplies, shampooer, etc. came out of my pocket. Now, I am a bit spoiled because the house we moved out of is a custom built home we built in 2002. This house we are in now was big enough to accomodate us and has a month to month lease. However, the landlord identified she wanted us to stay through the winter and wanted it to run 6 months from October to May, returning month to month after that. She failed to put that clause in our lease. Also, the windows in this house are original, built in 1950's. My 4 and 5 yeear old share a room. There is no glass on the outside windows. You can see curtains blowing in the breeze. It's freezing in here. We run space heaters in 3 bedrooms every night. The furnace NEVER shuts off. She told us the heating bill was roughly $60 per month....last month it was $175 and it's not even freezing yet, sure to be close to $300 in January. She promised to have windows fixed/replaced. The most we've seen is a contractor here to measure for new windows to give her a bid. He said it was only abid and he's given her several bids that she hasn't followed through on before. Fed up, we started looking. We found a beautiful new home in the country with 10 acres we can rent for now and can enter into a contract for deed. This is great for us cosidering our home that is not selling and is headed to foreclosure. I sent the landlord a certified letter with our intent to move out within the required time of 28 days, I also emailed it to her. She has not replied and has not picked up the letter from the post office. She is a sheister. When we moved in in the middle of June, she prorated the rent. I am intending on prorating my rent for this month. I am concerned however that we won't see our deposit. I know she doesn't have the $750 to return. I do have witnesses and photos to document my time to clean, etc. What I'm wondering is, can I deduct my expenses such as cleaning supplies, carpet shampooer rental fee, carpet cleaning supplies? My lease does state that our security deposit can not be used for last month's rent but I am tempted to not pay her for fear of not getting my money back. One thing I know for sure is that this house looks 125% better than it did when we moved in. I just really need to be steered in the right direction. Sorry for the novel, just wanted to get my point across as good as possible.

I should also mention that I spent 4 straight days painting walls and woodwork. She payed for paint and supplies but I painted. Isn't that worth something? The house has not been repainted in at least 5 years.
 
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FarmerJ

Senior Member
Take pics of the units final & cleaned condition so you have proof of what condition it was in when you moved out , BTW when your certified letter returns to you do not open it , put it in a safe place with a copy of your lease and let her explain to a judge why she could not pick up her mail.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
Good luck to you, but keep in mind that you accepted the house in the condition it was in, both inside and out.
 

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