Eviction over Pet Deposit Late fees

[jrcox1985]

I am in Arizona, and my leasing managment had initially agreed to let me pay my pet deposit over time instead of upfront. They are now claiming that I owe them late fees for the deposit, which I have confornted them on and they cannot show me in my lease or any other such policy that Pet deposits can acrue late fees. They have even implied that they have the right to serve a notice to evict if the fees are not paid along with the deposit, which will be paid shortly. I want legal clarification on this because they have already servied me an erroneous eviction notice over charges I had to confront them on and verify illegitimacy to get them to drop. I appreciate any input given.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

You need to be aware that a landlord cannot evict anyone. Only a court can grant an actual eviction. They can, of course, begin the process of such.

Should this end up in court that is the time to confirm whether late fees can be added to a pet deposit being paid over time.

Gail

 

[HRZ]

A lot depends on how your lease is worded.

In general your written lease trumps all oral deals made separate from it and not in writing ( and probably says just that )

In general, if the lease is ambiguous , the drafting side eats problems of thier drafting .

 

[xylene]

Bluntly, how much money is owed on the deposit and the late fees?

How long did you understand you had to pay the pet deposit?
How long has it been since this arrangement was made?

Is the pet deposit refundable or one of those fake 'nonrefundable deposit' ?

It may be giving in to a pushy landlord, but if we are talking some nominal amount of money (200 dollars or something) it might be better to just pay it and not ask this landlord for any favors.

Get everything in writing, including that your debt is paid up.

 

[jrcox1985]

Bluntly, how much money is owed on the deposit and the late fees?

How long did you understand you had to pay the pet deposit?
How long has it been since this arrangement was made?

Is the pet deposit refundable or one of those fake 'nonrefundable deposit' ?

It may be giving in to a pushy landlord, but if we are talking some nominal amount of money (200 dollars or something) it might be better to just pay it and not ask this landlord for any favors.

Get everything in writing, including that your debt is paid up.

The deposit itself has already had 50.00 paid towards it, and I am paying off the remaining 200.00 my next paycheck, the balance owed at that time will be just shy of 350.00. I have been aacumulate since the start of this month and they still have not given me any balance due notice. They have also stated that even if the deposit itself is paid off, their system will still accrue fees for any balance over 100.00.

 

[FarmerJ]

carefully re read your lease if you don't find any provision in the lease that lets them add a late fee to ANY balance other than actual rent owed no matter what the balance is for then I suggest you plan on not renewing your lease and telling them you think your going to enjoy watching them explain it all to a judge since your lease doesn't allow them to do that.