Landlord Violated Contract under Condition of Premises

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smithca2

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I subleased an apartment for 3 months. The landlord lives out of town and when I walked into the apartment the roommate had left junk all over the apartment. It was so much stuff I wasn't sure if she still lived there or not. I left a message for the landlord and she confirmed the roommate was moved out.

Our contract states: "CONDITION OF PREMISES- Tenant stipulates, represents and warrants that Tenant has examined the Premises, and that they are at the time of this Lease in good order, repair, and in a safe, clean and tentable condition." The apartment was full of personal belongings and it was filthy, there were liter boxes never emptied, chunks of cat hair, and cat feces and urine throughout the apartment.

I want my 1st month rent back and my security deposit. I took pictures of the apartment and there are 4 witnesses to the filth. The landlord is not willing to give me that. I would like to know if the contract was breached and if so, do I have enough evidence and a good case if I need an attorney?
 
I dealt with the previous tenant, she printed off a generic VA leasing contract and we signed it. I have pictures of the filth to prove what I saw when I moved in.
 
It is. We signed a contract between the former tenant. I just wanted advice on if there is anything we can do to get our security deposit and first month's rent returned since the contract was breached on her part. I asked her for this and her response was, "I will give you half off September's rent until the place is cleaned. If you wished to return the keys you can and I will not charge for the October and November rent. The security deposit will not be returned."
Our sub-lease was only for 3 months. I feel as though she knows what she did to us was wrong and this is her way of 'settling' the issue, but I want what was ours and that is all.
 
It sounds like you're at a stalemate dealing with the former tenant. Here is what I would do if I were you and could not bring myself to continue to live there.

I would require that the former tenant put what she has offered (half off September rent, terminating the lease agreement for October and November as long as you give back the keys) in writing so you have documentation of this. Include the date when you will be giving back the keys and vacating the rental.

Most states have a specific time period where the landlord (in this case the former tenant) must provide you with information regarding your security deposit. What must be provided and the time period for this varies from state to state (if you'll list your state I'll find out this information for you). If you don't hear from her within the required period, you will often have options on what you can do about this, including (in many cases) suing for several times the deposit.

What the former tenant may not realize is that a security deposit is not a "holding" fee. If she agrees to allow you to break your lease with her and you have not damaged the rental unit, there is no legal justification for her not to return the security deposit.

I hope this makes sense.

Gail
 
Gail thank you so much, this has made me feel better about the situation.
I reside in Virginia. I understand your previous post. I would like to know if we are entitled to our entire first month's rent since we never moved in to the apartment?
 
I suspect what might happen is that you will, eventually, have to consider suing the former tenant for the security deposit. If so, add the first months rent into the lawsuit. You indicated that you do have both pictures and witnesses to confirm the condition of the unit when you attempted to move in. Both are excellent evidence to present to a court.

Keep in mind that most of these types of cases are handled through Small Claims court where an attorney is not required. Virginia allows lawsuits up to $5000 to be heard in this court.

I've attached a site that lists the time frame for a landlord providing information/returning security deposits by each state. In Virginia this is 30 days.

http://www.rentlaw.com/securitydeposit.htm

Gail
 
Thank you so much Gail, hopefully we won't need to take it to court but if we do we are prepared. And because of your help I now have a better understanding of the actions we need to take.
 
Hi Gail- Hopefully you see this. If we began cleaning the apartment would this effect the outcome? We began cleaning it b/c we had borrowed a vehicle and had nowhere to put our belongings. In order to get them out of the car we were forced to remove the items left in the apartment. In an e-mail I received from the previous tenant I was told I could clear the items that were left.
 
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If you are cleaning the apartment to put your items in (even just for storage) the former landlord will have an excellent argument that you are using the apartment, even if you are not planning on moving in.

Thus your argument that you are entitled to all of Septembers rent because you did not actually live there is not likely to be granted by the court.

Gail
 
Ok. I just want to make sure I understand this. I could take legal action and sue for the security deposit and include Sept's rent, but she has a good agrument because we cleaned some of it? Our stuff was removed the next day, so none of our belongings are actually in the apartment.

That is what I am worried about, the fact that we cleaned the apartment. I honestly don't know why we did, other than we were so excited to move into our first place and when we were presented with a mess we tried to work it out but we just couldn't, we were overwhelmed by the amount that still had to be done. 9 hours of cleaning still was not enough time for us to finish, we had another days worth ahead of us. Honestly it should be professionally cleaned.

Thanks again, it's nice to have someone helping out and giving me useful information. I haven't been able to talk to an attorney to see if I have an argument and see if something can be done about this.
 
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I misunderstood your former posting. It appeared that you recently (i.e., yesterday) cleaned the place and then stored your items there.

Gail
 
Sorry for the confusion. We were supposed to move in on 9/1. When we arrived (on 9/1) the apartment was in poor condition. We began cleaning it that day and kept uncovering filth. After 9 hours of cleaning on Tuesday we realized there was still another day of cleaning left to do.

Tuesday we took up a load of our belongings, but the following day we took our things out of the apartment (all our belongings are stored elsewhere), because the lease was violated and we would like to know if there are any actions we can take against the former tenant.

We signed the contract 8/30 and that is when I gave her a check for September's rent. The lease was for 9/1-11/30, in my opinion because we found the apartment in the condition we did, the lease was violated (and now doesn't hold) we are entitled to the security deposit and September's rent. I don't know anything about estate law, so I could be completely wrong.

This is a piece of an e-mail exchanged between she and I. (The following is an e-mail I received after asking her for the contract to be void, our security deposit, September's rent, and telling her we would not continue to sub-lease from her.)
"If you would like the Sept. rent to be reduced until the apartment is cleaned, I will reduce by half your rent due (i.e., $450). However, if you prefer, you may return the keys and we will waive any rent due for the remainder of our lease. I think this is more than fair. Because I turned away other interested renters, and would have to re-rent the apartment again, the security deposit will not be returned."
 
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