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Moving Out, Walk-Through, and Security Deposit

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  • 02-14-2009, 03:01 PM
    nikita
    Moving Out, Walk-Through, and Security Deposit
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New Jersey

    Here are my issues:

    My landlord is also a lawyer.

    My husband and I rented an apartment in Oct 2007. The lease expired Aug 2008. The landlord did not contact us to renew the lease until Nov 2008. However, she called my husband and never sent a lease for use to sign, as she said she was going to. Apparently, my husband said we were going to stay until Aug 2009. I know he did not say this, as we were actively looking for a new apartment starting in September, but, as we live in a college town, none were available.

    We found an apartment in december, but this was after my husband had an "oral agreement" with the landlord, that we were going to stay till Aug 2009. This oral agreement unbeknownst to us, we signed the lease on the new apartment, gave our other landlord one month written notice AND sent our rent for the last month (we sent the letter and the rent before Jan 1 2008 and said our last day would be Jan 31 2008.

    She called us once, in the middle of Jan, but we were in Europe and of course didnt get any phone calls. She called again Jan 30 and said she wanted to do a walkthrough on Feb 1. However, this, again was a voicemail, and on the voicemail,. she threatened us with private detectives and exorbitant fees for the utilities, which were in her name. My husband called her back to assure her we werent hiding from her, gave her our new address and said he would meet her for the walkthrough.

    So, as for the walkthrough, I was not able to go, as I had classes and work, but my husband went. The she called at the time she was supposed to be there and said she couldnt go and postponed it. So a few days later, my husband went. Now, this was our moving out walkthrough, but we never had a moving in walkthrough. When we moved in, the apt was certainly in livable conditions, but very dirty and there were scratches on the hardwood floors. We cleaned for 2 days and then moved in. Here what I dont understand is the point of a moving out walkthrough, if there was no walkthrough to move in? I did take pictures before we cleaned when we moved in, but, as a lawyer, I feel she may discount them?

    At the moving out walkthrough walkthrough, she actually said she was very impressed at how clean the apt was. Everything looked good to her and she hand my husband sign a 3 page list of utilities costs (a question about which i have posted on another thread).

    So since this walkthrough, she has been calling and emailing us to no end. She is never outright rude in the calls or emails, but I can see that she is doing them from a legal standpoint. The tenants she had in the apt above us moved out in july and are still involved with legalities. In the lease, we also ridiculously signed that we would pay all her fees if we or she took us to court. So, in effect, she could come in and break the lease in any fashion and if we sue, no matter how wrong she is, we pay all fees associated. And, since she is a lawyer, we would be paying her salary. So needless to say, we are trying to avoid court.

    Here are my questions. Without an initial walkthrough, does this moving out walkthrough mean anything? She called my husband today and said she noticed 2 dents in the walls that are precluding her from renting the apt. These were not noticed or commented on at the moving out walkthrough and we either didnt do them or dont remember denting the walls. Furthermore, without out a signed lease, werent we on a month to month lease? My husband never agreed to an oral lease (but, again as a lawyer, Im sure she is going to use some legal jargon around that).

    We paid $4025 at the start of the lease. $1150 one month rent, $1725 sec. deposit and another $1150 for a line on the lease that says "The tenant has paid the landlord an additional month's rent in the amount of $1150. This rent security deposit will be held as security for payment of rent by the tenant." The sentence after that on the lease is crossed out with pen and says, "This rent security deposit will be returned to the tenant within ten days of the termination of this lease, minus any rent due upon termination but without interest, except as required by the laws of the state of NJ.
    I know it is law in NJ to send the tenant the info about where the sec deposit is being held and info about the interest, etc., but we never received that info. Furthermore, we paid every month of rent, to include the last month, so we should be due that rent, correct?

    I am so confused and worried that she is going to bleed us dry (even though we were model tenants). She is acting psychotic and I dont even know why, Im sure she has had problems with her tenants before as I said this is a college town and they tend to act crazy, but we have followed the lease to the T even when were were not on one. Can anyone please give me a smidgen of advice?
  • 02-16-2009, 08:00 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Moving Out, Walk-Through, and Security Deposit
    You say both that your husband agreed to extend the lease and that he did not. It has to be one or the other.

    If it were me I would sue the woman for return of the security deposit in small claims court and let the judge sort out who owes what. But I understand that's intimidating, with her being a nutty lawyer and all.

    As I said in your other thread, you and your husband are both students so you may have a "student legal services" organization available to advise or assist you. Check with your school.
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