LandLord & Deposit

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wandering

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Hi, We just moved out a month ago from a house we rented from a landlord who was very unfair. We always paid on time & kept the place clean etc.. He would always show up unannounced, steal water from our hose, have his friends in the back yard etc.. We really tried to just bare with it all we could. We gave him the 60 days notice he wanted and had the place cleaned inside and out including carpets. We left the place immaculate because he said we had to which is fine. Forget the normal wear and tear part of the lease as we left the place better than when we moved in lol. There was however a quater size mark on his really old countertop (40 years old) that he now says he has to get a new one and we have to pay for most of the cost. The countertop already had marks on it when we moved in. It has now been almost 30 days since we moved out and he will not return our calls. He was suppose to let us know the cost to replace the countertop. The lease says 35 days and we get the deposit back. What do we do if we dont hear from him in those 35 days? Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. We did do him a favor (which we were uncomfortable about) and that was lying to the county assesor that his wife lives in the home and that it is not a rental so he could get the homestead credit. Even after all we did and put up with he is being very shady to us about our deposit. Should we report him to the county.
 
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Just a quick update the landlord now says he is not going to replace the countertop. Instead he will just give us a "quote" that he thinks is fair. My question is can he just think up a "quote" for the spot on his old countertop? What if we dont agree with the his "quote". I personally think he just does not have the money to pay us back our deposit. If we take him to small claims I wonder if we would win. :confused:
 
Well looks like he wants to charge us over $500 for a small spot on a 30 year old countertop. What do you think of that? He said a new countertop cost 1500.
 
Gail I totally agree. I asked him what kind he was looking at cause that is ridiculous. He said he is not even going to fix it but just "felt" like charging us that amount. He went and got a high quote at Lowes. I did call and get some legal advice and everyone I talked to could not believe it. Looks like we will take him to small claims. I just hope the judge sees what everyone else does. The guy is a bully and very unfair.
 
In reviewing the landlord/tenant laws of Indiana, the landlord has 45 days to return information regarding the status of the security deposit. This notification can include an estimate of costs to repair damages above normal wear and tear. If you were to sue the landlord, he would have to prove in court that the cost of replacing the countertop is a fair and accurate estimate.

Remember my quote of $108 for a countertop from Lowes is only for the laminate ones and does not include installation costs.

Your landlord/tenant laws also state that if no notification is sent by the 45 day limitation it is assumed that there is no damage. This is likely not going to be an out for you as your landlord has already notified you of the need to replace the countertop.

However, it is also quite likely that the judge would not buy the landlords argument that he wishes to charge you for a repair he has no intention of making.

Gail
 
Gail, Thank you for the info. He is suppose to be sending us a summary of his charges and a check minus the $540 he is charging us. That would make it about 35 days. I just wonder if we should go to small claims court?? He said he is not going to fix it as he feels the countertop has 3 more years of life. Plus with the new tentant in there he doesnt really care to fix it at this point. I just feel he is being really unfair as he said he would get quotes back to us and we could all mutual agree on a number. Well he never did that. He waited last minute and just charged what he felt. Mind you the countertop is 30 + years old and already had marks on it (which I do have pics of). I dont know if it matters to bring character into court but he did steal water from the city until he got caught. Then he said we had to lie and say his wife lived in the home so he could save on the exemptions. Not to mention the many pictures I have of him peeping around near my bedroom window. Does any of this matter? I just think a small spot is not worth over $500. I went and told his new tenant what he did and to be careful and he really appreciated. He said he is already noticing things the guy is doing that is not fair.
 
Wait until you get the check for the remainder of your security deposit and if you disagree with what you received, you then notify the landlord of this and demand the remaining balance (or the amount that you believe is fair) or you will consider legal action.

If he does not respond within the time frame you have provided him (and your "demand" letter should list a date that you expect the remaining money to be sent to you) then you consider filing a lawsuit.

It is important to remember that lawsuits in Civil Court involve money, not possible criminal actions (such as peeping through your windows). Sometimes folks feel they have to throw the entire book out in court and this muddies up the real issue (which is are you entitled to get more of your security deposit back).

The interesting part of all of this is that if he does replace the countertop you would very likely owe for this. While the damage involves one area it is often impossible to fix just one spot on a countertop. Unless it is real butcher block/wood (in which case things like a burn spot may be able to be sanded down and restained/resealed) or tile (in which case a broken tile may be able to be chisled out and replaced...a real job in itself) damage to one spot may require an entire countertop replacement.

Since you accepted the place "as is" at move in it likely doesn't matter that the countertop already had marks in it.

Gail
 
Gail thanks for the input. I will take it into consideration. I just brought up the criminal things he is doing just because I thought it would show his character. If he is cheating the government & people why wouldnt he us. I think character would tell alot in a person especially if they cheat alot and have a constant pattern which involved making us lie for him.

This is a very old house and his countertop is not big at all. I dont see where he gets $1500 for a new one and he said he will charge us 1/3 of the price which came out to $550. If we go to court can he go back on that??? We already tried to reason with him and he hung up on us and said take me to court I have been there many times (not sure what he meant by that)

I know I can get a whole nice countertop at Lowes for $300 and labor may be $200. So if we have to pay 1/3 of that then that would be fine. I guess we should just get our own estimates and bring them to court? The spot is very small and on the top part of the counter near the stove area. He told us he wont fix it and that it had atleast 3 years of life left. He rented the place out right after we moved out. The countertop is very usable still. Would it hurt us to take him to small claims? Could we lose even more money?
 
Small Claims court was designed to provide folks a legal resolution to money issues that are relatively small. In Indiana the most you can sue someone for in Small Claims is $6,000.

Filing is relatively inexpensive and an attorney is not needed (although Indiana does allow you to have one if you wish).

If you do file and win your court costs for filing are tacked on to the judgement.

Yes; you can certainly bring your own estimates to court to show the judge that the landlords claim of $1500 is unreasonably high.

This overview of Indiana Small Claims may help...

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/Obj...6-DBF6-432D-B625E7D1A29183D0/104/308/273/ART/

Gail
 
Thanks. I got the "quote" in the mail today. It is below. It says this estimate is not valid without a mangagers signature. Its not even signed. He got it at Lowes.

Laminate Countertop 478
Laminate Tearout 200
Lam CTop Install 500
Plumbing Hook-Up 247
Cook Top Hook-Up 114
D/W Hookup 134
Delivery 74
Haul Away 54

Total 1801. 47

Then he says he calculated the usable life left at 3 years at 180 per year his loss. Geeeez.
 
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Sounds like what we are going through right now with our ex-landlord. He is filling a lawsuit against us. Small claims court seems to be the best place to get this taken care of. You may want to try court appointed mediation. The last place you want to be is in court. Try that and see what happens. GOOD LUCK!
 
Thanks for all the input. We have a lawyer friend who is going to write him a letter and demand full deposit back because what he did is wrong. I looked up the law in our state and he can only charge us fair market value. I dont know what a pink countertop from 1977 is worth today but I am guessing nothing. Our exlandlord try to say it was only 10 years old but I called the realtor and he knows for a fact it was put in 1977. Making it 32 years old. Also in our state we are to have peaceful living and the landlord is to give reasonable notice when he comes onto the premises. He never did that and I have many pics to prove it. If we have to go to court then we will. Our landlord is very hard to deal with and will not compromise. There is no way we wanna pay over $500 for a tiny mark on a old countertop he wont replace and is currently still using. Not to mention its worth nothing today.
 
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