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  1. #1

    Default Money Deducted from Security Deposit Without Explanation

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Tennessee

    !!! This is a very long post. Scroll to the bottom to: **********TLDR for a more compact summary.

    Hello, I have done a bit of research online, but am looking for further advice. I rented a property in Nashville, TN with a one year lease from the end of April 2014 - the end of April 2015. I am rather naive and had no experience renting property. We never met the landlord. He lives in a different state. I never even had his address until today when I received the deposit from him. The previous tenants showed us the place, then gave us the keys when we moved in. I paid a $1900 security deposit (a bit much for the place), but never received any information about where the deposit was being held, which I later learned was Tennessee law. Upon moving in, there were lots of little things we were not pleased about, but unfortunately the only thing I mentioned to the landlord or took pictures of was the paint, because my fiance was wanting to repaint the place. The rent was $1650 a month including utilities. If the utilities went over $100, as stated in the lease, we were to pay the difference, which we did a few times throughout our stay.

    This will be long and convoluted, and much of it may be irrelevant, but I will summarize the experience moving out in case any of this is important. Almost all of our conversations were through text messaging and I therefore have record of all of it. A few months before the end of the lease, the landlord contacted me asking if we would be renewing or extending the lease. I told him we needed to move out of state to be with family so we would not be extending. For the next couple months, he scheduled for us to show the place to prospective tenants while we were still living there. Although we were not moving out until the end of April, we noticed he had the place listed as available April 1st on Craigslist. He then asked me (Unfortunately this is one of the only conversations via telephone rather than text) if we could be moved out before the start of April. I told him we could try to do that if he prorated the rent, to which he agreed. I have learned many things from this experience, one being to always get such things in writing. My fiance and I traveled out of state to look for a place and signed a lease for a house we found so that we could be out of the place before April. I really went out of my was to accommodate him, but shortly thereafter, the landlord told me that prospective renters had canceled on him and he could no longer prorate the rent if we moved out early.

    OK, so that was the start of our troubles. As we were packing our things He wanted to schedule to have carpet cleaners and a cleaning lady come to the house. I believe he wanted to do this before we moved out so that there would be someone to let them in. I told him we likely would not be ready by the day he scheduled, but he said they could work around us. I texted him early the day they were scheduled to come to let him know we had been up all night trying to at least have our stuff in a way that they could work around us, but had not yet been able to do so, so I asked him if he could reschedule the appointment. We ended up going asleep in the late morning after being up all night and morning trying to get our stuff to the point that they could work around us. I had hoped he would reschedule the appointments as I asked, and was very asleep. I did not hear the carpet cleaners knocking at the door nor my phone which was on vibrate, so they came and left. When the cleaning lady came, I did wake up to her pounding on the door. I let her in but she said she couldn't work around all our stuff and would have to come back another time. This is what I had tried to repeatedly tell him, but he kept insisting that they could just work around it fine. So he told me that the carpet cleaners and the cleaning lady both charged a fee for coming out but being unable to complete the task and that he would be taking it out of the security deposit. I called the carpet cleaners as they had left a tag on the door about rescheduling. I asked them if there was a charge for us being unavailable for him to do the work, or if there would be an additional charge when they came back to do the work. He informed me that there was no such charge and that it is their company's policy not to charge for missed appointments. I did not know the cleaning lady or have her contact info in order to inquire whether there was a charge. The landlord had repeatedly told me that she could just work around us however. When she got there, she said she could not.

    We never had a walkthrough prior to move out, or on the actual move out date. We never had any walkthroughs at all. Neither upon moving in or out, as we had never met the landlord. The only other conversation I had with him on the phone which I wish was in text was when I had asked him about the security deposit. He told me that once new tenants moved in, he would get the deposit to me (Which leaves me certain that he was waiting for the next tenants to pay their deposit in order to pay us back). So we moved out on 04/17, but the lease ended on 04/25. On 4/30, I asked him about the security deposit. He told me he was flying down there on 05/01 to look at the place. On 05/03, he texted me that in addition to the cleaning lady's charge, our final two months utilities were above the allotted $100 and that would be taken from the deposit. He also said there was a desk left in the apartment that he had to pay someone to remove, a broken vacuum cleaner, a broken shower curtain rod as well as some "other issues ". We never received any itemized list, I never received anything from him at all, though I texted him my new address multiple times. That text was the only thing I received regarding any problems or repairs, etc. I was very frustrated, but I didn't want to upset him at this point. I didn't reply for a bit, as I talked to people about this and thought about how best to respond. The place was "furnished", which mostly meant full of his junk and some of previous tenants junk. On 05/14, I sent him a text explaining that the curtain rod was broken when we moved in, so we purchased our own. There were also two vacuum cleaners there which were taped up and neither of them worked worth a damn, so we bought our own vacuum as well. We removed all of our furniture upon moving out, so what remained I assumed was his "furnishings", previous tenants must have left this, and he never saw the place between tenants. I told him we put the vacuum cleaners as well as closets full of other junk in our climate controlled storage unit which we had to keep for the duration of our stay because the closets were all full of junk, and we needed room to pit our things. He replied asking once again for my new address and said he would mail the deposit.

    I will just list further texts here so it is easier to read:

    06/03
    Me: What is the status on the deposit
    Him: Sorry the HVAC went out and had to replace it. Very soon sorry for the delay.

    06/04
    Me: Please get the deposit back to me ASAP. (I then explained that TN state law says the deposit should be returned within 30 days, and also asked him for information regarding the bank where the security deposit was held, which I was supposed to receive upon moving in. Listed my address once again.

    07/06 We moved out on 04/17 lease ended 04/25)
    Me:What's up with the security deposit?

    07/07
    Me: I am at a point where I really need the deposit badly. I told people I would have the money by now to cover things at our new place.
    Him:What bank do you bank with? Maybe I can just deposit money for you.
    Me: Could you please just mail a check to: (Listed address yet again) Thanks.

    07/20
    Me: Have you mailed the check yet?

    07/21
    Him:Check is in the mail sorry for the delay
    Me: Thank you.

    07/24 - Received the check. The deposit was $1900, the check is for $1450. There was no letter or statement or anything with it, just a check in an envelope. On the memo section of the check it says: Security - electric outage X 2 months.

    I have no idea what this means... I am at a point where I am not sure to proceed and these are my questions:

    1: I suppose I should contact him and ask what that even means, right?
    2: I believe that after all of this crap, I am by TN law entitled to the full amount of the deposit. Should I mention this to him if I do talk to him?
    3: If things cannot be resolved through discussion with him, do I need to file a complaint with any court or government agency?
    4: If I decide to sue him in TN general sessions court, will both parties need to be present on the court date? This is not too far a drive for me, and I really need to visit Nashville to see a few people anyway. He however lives in NY and I am not even sure he could make it.
    5: According to all that happened, it appears to me that I am entitled to the full refund. Am I correct?
    6: MOST IMPORTANTLY - Can I deposit the check he gave me while suing for the remaining $450? I am in dire need of the money, but I don't know if by cashing the check I am agreeing to the amount or waiving any possibility of getting the remainder in court.

    ***************** TLDR Compact Summary -

    I never met landlord, got the keys from previous tenants. He never looked at the place between they and I. I never received any information about where the deposit was being held. I did not even have his address until today when I received the check in the mail. There were no walkthroughs done prior to or upon moved out. I never received an itemized list of deductions. He did fly back to look at the place on 05/01 and sent a text with a few minor things, which I then disputed in a reply. Moved out on 04/17, lease ended 04/25. Landlord and I had spoken many times through text message that I would be moving out by the end of the lease, the 25th of April. Over the next three months, asked repeatedly via text about the security deposit. Was told repeatedly that it would be here soon. Finally on 07/24, almost three months to the day, the check arrived. It was alone in an envelope with no letter or statement of any kind. The original deposit was for $1900. The check I received was for $1450. The only explanation is that the memo section of the check has written: Security - Electric outage x 2 months. I have no idea what this means. Please see my questions above. Thank you in advance for any assistance you might provide

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: $450 of Deposit Withheld with No Explanation - Tennessee

    Cash the check. Doing so will not harm you.

    However, realistically you can probably kiss that 450.00 goodbye. Its not that you cannot win a case against him, its that it would be next to impossible to actually collect from him since he is in NY. You might get lucky and he pays up if he loses, but odds are that he won't.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: $450 of Deposit Withheld with No Explanation - Tennessee

    Tennessee has jurisdiction over the tenancy, so the landlord can be sued in a Tennessee small claims court and, assuming a victory, if the landlord does not pay a judgment a garnishment order can be sought from the court to be served upon the current tenants.

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