Past landlord wants payment after 10 months

[kismi]

I moved out of a house that I rent in Indiana last September. The house was rented shortly after I moved out. The renters moved out the first of June and I received notice a few days later wanting payment because I didn't give them 30 days notice.
When I first moved into the house one of the doors to the outside had been busted, I asked that they replace it. They said that it was safe, because they had nailed a piece of wood to the bottom of it. Being a single mother I was not comfortable with this.
While I was living there, several things occurred. My daughter caught one of the employees fingering our personal items while she was spraying for instects. Almost every night we were awaken with some type of distrubance, yelling, screaming and sirens. Drunken neighbors or police knocking on the door in the middle of the night. I received threatening email. One night my daughter sighted a man hiding in the bushes. A renter accross the street was murdered, this brought the media and onlookers walking through our yard. The neighbors was always trashing my yard. I had enough when a friend pulled up and found two men peeking into my windows.
I found a house in a safer place but the landlord said that I needed to give them 30 days notice, I couldn't afford to pay rent on two houses, and I could no longer stay in the old house.
Does he have the right to ask for back rent after 10 months and had rerented the house.

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kismi:
I moved out of a house that I rent in Indiana last September. The house was rented shortly after I moved out. The renters moved out the first of June and I received notice a few days later wanting payment because I didn't give them 30 days notice.
When I first moved into the house one of the doors to the outside had been busted, I asked that they replace it. They said that it was safe, because they had nailed a piece of wood to the bottom of it. Being a single mother I was not comfortable with this.
While I was living there, several things occurred. My daughter caught one of the employees fingering our personal items while she was spraying for instects. Almost every night we were awaken with some type of distrubance, yelling, screaming and sirens. Drunken neighbors or police knocking on the door in the middle of the night. I received threatening email. One night my daughter sighted a man hiding in the bushes. A renter accross the street was murdered, this brought the media and onlookers walking through our yard. The neighbors was always trashing my yard. I had enough when a friend pulled up and found two men peeking into my windows.
I found a house in a safer place but the landlord said that I needed to give them 30 days notice, I couldn't afford to pay rent on two houses, and I could no longer stay in the old house.
Does he have the right to ask for back rent after 10 months and had rerented the house. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You were still required to give proper notice to vacate pursuant to the terms and conditions of your written lease agreement or State landlord tenant laws. This notice is required regardless of:
1) whether you had a written or verbal lease,
2) whether you had a mmonth-to-month or fixed lease term and more importantly
3) especially because of the reasons for lease cancellation as you have described.

You should have wrote a leeter to the landlord cancelling the lease and informing him that you will be vacating the premises for the very reasons you have stated. Under the circumstances, he can charge you rent from the time you vacated up to when the new tenants moved in or 30 days whichever occurred sooner. Double check your State L/T laws for the exact requirements. He has the right to go after you for the rent due even after 10 months have passed as you still owe the money.

 

[loudrich]

You should check you state laws at Http://www.tenant.net for what we have here in NY its called the "stale rent law" under most conditions if a landlord has NOT asked for rent in the least 3to 6 months (depending on the judge and circimstances) then you are NOT obilgated to pay it!

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by kismi:
I moved out of a house that I rent in Indiana last September. The house was rented shortly after I moved out. The renters moved out the first of June and I received notice a few days later wanting payment because I didn't give them 30 days notice.
When I first moved into the house one of the doors to the outside had been busted, I asked that they replace it. They said that it was safe, because they had nailed a piece of wood to the bottom of it. Being a single mother I was not comfortable with this.
While I was living there, several things occurred. My daughter caught one of the employees fingering our personal items while she was spraying for instects. Almost every night we were awaken with some type of distrubance, yelling, screaming and sirens. Drunken neighbors or police knocking on the door in the middle of the night. I received threatening email. One night my daughter sighted a man hiding in the bushes. A renter accross the street was murdered, this brought the media and onlookers walking through our yard. The neighbors was always trashing my yard. I had enough when a friend pulled up and found two men peeking into my windows.
I found a house in a safer place but the landlord said that I needed to give them 30 days notice, I couldn't afford to pay rent on two houses, and I could no longer stay in the old house.
Does he have the right to ask for back rent after 10 months and had rerented the house. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Tracey]

You are liable for the rent that L did not collect until the new tenants moved in. L can wait 2-6 years to sue, depending on whether you had a written or oral lease. However, in an action to recover rent, T may assert various defenses. Here, you can assert the following defenses:

-- L never gave you the required accounting of your security deposit. If L doesn't mail you an accounting/refund within 45 days of you terminating the lease, L has agreed that T owes nothing & L must refund the entire deposit.

-- L was in breach of the lease & your termination of the lease was proper. Therefore you don't owe ANY rent at all. (You also get the security deposit back.) Here, L breached the lease by not providing a secure door in a known high-crime area, after your repeated requests that L do so. The question is whether you gave L proper notice to repair the door or you'd terminate. Indiana doesn't have a proper residential landlord tenant act that would set forth the proper notice & L's duties. You'll have to wing it - convince the judge that public policy gives L a duty to repair unsafe conditions promptly & effectively, that L didn't, & that this constituted "bad faith" & a breach of the lease. Your argument will be much stronger if there was little time between L failing to repair the door & you leaving. If you paid rent in the interim, the judge may conclude that you waived this complaint.

-- Even if you didn't give proper notice regarding the door/terminating the lease, you can ask the judge to reduce the rent on the apartment to reflect the unsecure & dangerous conditions. Obviously, you want the judge to reduce the rent by at least the amount L claims you owe.

-- L breached the lease when L's agent (the exterminator) was caught fingering your belongings, with obvious intent to use the passkey to come back and steal things when you were gone. If L or T commits a crime against the other, the victim may terminate the lease with very little notice & the transgressor doesn't even get a chance to cure the breach. Here, the crime is attempted theft/burglary or conspiracy to commit theft/burglary. You may have a problem because the theft was not completed. However, uncompleted crimes are still crimes. [IC 35-41-5] The judge may not conclude that the evidence of a crime was strong enough. However, you want to get as much bad stuff in front of the judge as possible. If the judge dislikes L enough, she'll find a way to rule in your favor. Yes, Virginia, a trial really is a popularity contest!

-- L can't ask for any rent after the new tenants left. (I'm not sure from your post if he is or not.) By accepting a replacement tenant on a 6 month lease or month to month, L accepted the risk that he wouldn't be able to get a third tenant after T2 moved out. L should have held out for a T who would have stayed for the entire length of your lease. This argument may not fly, but it's worth a shot.


Think about your defenses & how much L would owe you if you prevailed. Then sue L in small claims court for a security deposit refund, abatement of rent & refund of rent already paid, and damages for beach if you think you can convince a judge that L breached the lease. You'll need written documents (your notices, etc.) to win a breach claim. You'll also have to bring in copies of newspaper articles about the high crime rate while you lived there, and have your daughter testify about the employee casing the place for later burglary. In general, it's better to be the plaintiff in small claims court. You get to talk first & have a higher chance of being awarded costs if you obtain a partial "win".

IC 32-7-5-14
Sec. 14. In case of damage to the rental unit or other obligation against the security deposit, the landlord shall mail to the tenant, within forty-five (45) days after the termination of occupancy, an itemized list of damages claimed for which the security deposit may be used as provided in section 13 of this chapter, including the estimated cost of repair for each damaged item and the amounts and lease on which the landlord intends to assess the tenant. The list must be accompanied by a check or money order for the difference between the damages claimed and the amount of the security deposit held by the landlord.
As added by P.L.277-1989, SEC.1.


IC 32-7-5-15
Sec. 15. Failure by the landlord to comply with the notice of damages requirement within the forty-five (45) days after the termination of occupancy constitutes agreement by the landlord that no damages are due, and the landlord must remit to the tenant immediately the full security deposit.
As added by P.L.277-1989, SEC.1.


IC 32-7-5-16
Sec. 16. A landlord who fails to provide a written statement within forty-five (45) days of termination of the tenancy or the return of the appropriate security deposit is liable to the tenant in an amount equal to the part of the deposit withheld by the landlord, plus reasonable attorney's fees and court costs.



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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.