Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I had a renter just leave the propery after being on a verbal month to month contract. When the tenant left the property he ask to settle up witht he money. I told him I would asses the house and let hime know if he would be getting anything back. While assesing the property I found fresh pet urin in one room and multiple stains throughout the house. There are also large black marks alon the walls as well as finger and hand prints all over. THe tennant never gave me a forwarding address or a 30 day notice. The tennant left the property mid last week and yesterday I recieved a letter from a legal sevice plan stating I hav unlawfully ratained the deposit. I know its well within my rights to hold some if not all the deposit. I will be contacting a lawyer of course and see where that takes me. Is there anyting else I need to do To settle this properly?

Every state has specific timeframes for the landlord to either return the full security deposit or if returning a partial amount or none at all, usually a list of damages must be sent as well.

Posted by Denise S, PA on Thursday, August 21, 2008