Hello,
My question involves a security deposit in the State of: Ohio
(1) Rented the house for 1850 per month on March 2008, lease got over on Feb 2009. Landlord insisted we stay month to month on 1250 per month and 45 days vacate notice to which we agreed. stayed for march, april he called us to told to vacate on 30th april, we asked him to vacate by may 15th to which he told us because we need the house, we need to pay him full rent i.e. 900$ for 1-15th may, we agreed and paid.
(2) now he is not returning security deposit for 1850$ and asking for additional 335$. Pet deposit (250$) was non refundable as per lease.
(3) Claims towards our security deposit -
(a) late rent for 9 months of the lease - 450$ (50 X 9)
he never informed us of this before. not sure whether it is in the lease.
but does he need to inform us on the month the rent is late that he is charging us 50$ more ? or is it ok to bring it up at the lease end. he never made any communication either written/oral reg this.
(b) dry wall repair - 550$ (wall repair and painting the walls)
(c) replace bulbs - 100$
(d) garage door openers replacement - 40$
(e) batteries for alarms in the house - 30-40$
(f) replacing a window screen - 22$
(g) degreasing of equipment in kitchen and getting them professionally cleaned - 380$
(h) carpet getting professionally cleaned - 100$
(f) we moved the lawn, infact did some mulching too....we did not get the house in a mulched condition when we rented it. but now we he is charging us for mulching, edging and lawn care which he did one month before we left...and he did not ask us again to do it first....he just hired somebody and started working on the lawn without our permission.
we mowed the lawn 5 days before we left and mulched it at our cost last summer...also put plants worth 250$ on our own cost.
my question is, are we legally bound to pay all these costs ? what is considered to be normal wear and tear ?
Pls advice on each of the items....
Thanks a ton for your help. We are permanent residents (GC holders), not natives from this country, so not citizens. I do not know whether this changes anything, but just for information.
thanks
pr

