Do I have a strong case?

[jay8829]

So, this started nearly a year ago when I moved out of my townhouse back in may. I had lived there for two years and had taken good care of it while I was there. My landlord was a bit of a jerk but we never really had any issues while we were there and we didn't cause trouble. I put a lot of work into cleanup when we moved out (I had never lost a single dollar on my deposit before, I know how to cleanup before moving out) and other than one wall that needed to be redone because of some adhesive strips that was on it, I was expecting a full refund. I was shocked to find out that not only were they witholding the whole $1400 deposit, they demanded another $300 on top of it. Unfortunately I didn't think to take photos of what it looked like when we left, but I did take photos a few weeks prior of the rooms in great condition. There are also a few things he did with the deposit that I believe are illegal. First, he didn't give an itemized list of how much each repair cost, he just gave a list of what they did and the total cost, when we asked him to show how he got to the number he billed he refused. He also claims there are photos showing the damage we caused but has not sent them when requested. He also billed us for quite a few things that seem like normal wear and tear, we got billed to steam clean the grout and the carpet, cleaning lightswitches, door knobs and window sills, and for repainting all of the walls when my photos show them in great condition. we also got billed $150 for leaving garbage in the trash bins (one of the few things that was actually itemized). He did send us the receipts he got from the repair companies he used, but those receipts aren't itemized either and the majority of the work the companies did were things he definitely can't bill us for, so it looks like he just made up a number for what to bill us. Finally, even if we were billed the total of all the receipts he sent, they still add up to $600 less than what he billed us.

We also got a bit of a lucky break in that a few days after moveout, a package delivered by USPS showed up at the door and the landlord collected it. When I texted him to ask about it, he responded that I couldn't have the package until I paid the remainder of the bill. At that point a family friend who's a healthcare lawyer did me a favor and sent a demand letter lining out all these issues, and pointing out that he had committed a felony by witholding my mail, at which point he released it. Anyway, that didn't do much other than get his own lawyer involved and to drag things out and stall. Skip to now and I recently found out that his lawyer had dropped him as a client, so I decided to just email him again directly laying out everything he did that I thought was illegal, remind him that he committed a felony and say that if I did not have confirmation that he was refunding my deposit within a week, I would be filing a suit in small claims court and filing a complaint with the post inspector general. It's been 5 days now and he hasn't responded. Does it sound like I have a good case or is this going to end up backfiring on me? I live in Texas, BTW.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Attached is the statute regarding the return of the security deposit under Texas law. This needs to be provided to the tenant within 30 days of vacating the rental unit. The former tenants needs to provide a forwarding address. The landlord is not required to provide you with receipts of what was actually done nor pictures of the damages they claim.

Remember that dirt is not normal wear and tear.

If you disagree with what was kept from your security deposit, you SEND (not EMAIL) what is known as a "demand" letter, demanding what you believe you are fairly owed and giving the landlord a certain amount of time to return these funds. You keep a copy of the letter for yourself as documentation should this end up in court. Many judges will not take the time to read email messages.

If no satisfaction within the time period in your letter, then you consider a lawsuit. Most of these lawsuits are handled through Small Claims court as they involve relatively small amounts of money in dispute. Filing for this court is fairly inexpensive and you would represent yourself in this court. It is likely the landlord would countersue you for what he/she believes you owe them because, after all, they have nothing to lose by doing so. You may be at a disadvantage if you have no pictures of the rental unit at move out, especially since the landlord claims they have pictures of what they claim are damages (whether this is true or not we cannot tell you).

We cannot tell you if you have a good case or not as we have no idea what the place looked like at move out.

Good luck...

Gail




Search TEX PR. CODE ANN. § 92.104 : Texas Statutes - Section 92.104: RETENTION OF SECURITY DEPOSIT; ACCOUNTING


(a) Before returning a security deposit, the landlord may deduct from the deposit damages and charges for which the tenant is legally liable under the lease or as a result of breaching the lease.

(b) The landlord may not retain any portion of a security deposit to cover normal wear and tear.

(c) If the landlord retains all or part of a security deposit under this section, the landlord shall give to the tenant the balance of the security deposit, if any, together with a written description and itemized list of all deductions. The landlord is not required to give the tenant a description and itemized list of deductions if:

(1) the tenant owes rent when he surrenders possession of the premises; and

(2) there is no controversy concerning the amount of rent owed.

 

[jay8829]

As an update, after filing a claim the landlord sent over the photos he took, they show almost none of the damage (they basically only took photos of things that we weren't disputing and a few things that were already there and on the move in checklist). However, what's more interesting is that they sent a very detailed itemization of the expenses and what they charged us for. The thing is, while it adds up to the same amount they billed us, it doesn't match up at all. For instance, the charge on their breakdown is now $18 for removing trash from the trash bin, but they make up that lowered charge with 8 other small little charges. If on their itemization of deposit refund they say that they're charging $150 for removing garbage, are they required to defend that charge as stated, or are they allowed to turn around and say "oh no, we weren't actually charging $150 for that, we were charging $18 and there were seven other things we didn't mention on the itemization but we're going to be charging you for"

Also, in the photos they provided they did not bother to take a single wide shot, when I asked why they did not bother to show the supposed state of disrepair the house was in or the horrid condition of the walls, their response was that all of the dirt on the walls would not show up in a photo. Is it just me, or is it absolutely insane for them to claim that the condition of the walls was so horrible that they all needed to be repainted, but that it also won't show up if you try to take a picture of it?

 

[FarmerJ]

If you had already filed just make sure you go to court and let the court decide and even though the pics you have are not the same week you moved out bring them and tell the judge, on some of it argue, like the paint job , you lived there for 2 yrs wouldn't the useful life of the paint job if it was new when you moved in have been used up? Trash collection, was the trash collection included in the rent ? and last was it a city wide contractor who picked it up, meaning that every household near you had the same trash day ? Or was it a trash hauler your landlord contracted with ? Reason being , if it was city wide pick up then the city can tell you if there was extra cost related to having more than normal amounts of trash, ( knowing that information in court could help that charge go away too. in Court any part of your states law the LL didn't follow use it as reason to be fully refunded , point out that what the LL sent you should match but you want to know why it doesn't, keep asking for details , the Judge can figure it out.

 

[jay8829]

Well, the story keeps developing. I asked the landlord to clarify what he considers the acceptable lifespan of an interior coat of paint with normal wear and tear, he responded that it depends on who is occupying the unit. Is it legal for a landlord to have different standards of wear and tear for different tenants?

 

[FarmerJ]

if it was me I would stop wasting my time asking him anything , So you know when I had rentals I always painted in between tenants , new paint makes a unit look better even if the carpet is not new but cleaned new paint always makes a unit show much nicer. You lived there for 2 yrs You used up the useful life of the paint!!!!! even if a landlord bought the most expensive paint they could get very seldom does a landlord get to go into a unit and just wash the walls down and re rent it with out a new paint job so unless you damaged the paint in a way that the LL had to use very spendy primer after two years the only way those walls would have shown great is if you lived like a ghost tenant , meaning you paid your rent but were gone so dang much [ and didn't smoke cigs or pot in the unit, didn't have a style of cooking that left a lot of odors that a wash would have worked then really consider just letting the court handle it instead of letting this former landlord keep richarding you around any more.