What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
My Landlord of 8 years has never had an issue with us. Rent paid in full on time and took very good care of the property. He had a contractor and himself inspect and neither found any issues with the condition of the property. So when we asked for our security deposit back we were surprised when we were told no. The Landlord is holding our security deposit until he has my utility account numbers and the accounts are transferred to his son (the new tenants) name. Is this legal grounds for holding our money? Our utility accounts were all paid by us and opened by us. We transferred our accounts to our new property. The Landlord doesn't want to pay new security deposits to start utility accounts. We paid our deposits like I said and opened accounts when we moved in. Is this legal? Can he withhold our money over utilities? Not sure what our rights are. There has not been a lease in 7 years and nothing about holding the deposit or transferring utilities. Thanks!
My Landlord of 8 years has never had an issue with us. Rent paid in full on time and took very good care of the property. He had a contractor and himself inspect and neither found any issues with the condition of the property. So when we asked for our security deposit back we were surprised when we were told no. The Landlord is holding our security deposit until he has my utility account numbers and the accounts are transferred to his son (the new tenants) name. Is this legal grounds for holding our money? Our utility accounts were all paid by us and opened by us. We transferred our accounts to our new property. The Landlord doesn't want to pay new security deposits to start utility accounts. We paid our deposits like I said and opened accounts when we moved in. Is this legal? Can he withhold our money over utilities? Not sure what our rights are. There has not been a lease in 7 years and nothing about holding the deposit or transferring utilities. Thanks!