My wife and I rented a house in Pittsburgh PA for 3 years. We were pretty model tenants (as often told to us by the landlord). We relocated 700 miles away in June and after the final walkthrough while cleaning people were finishing up landlord mentioned the missed some dust on a baseboard so i said i'd have them handle it. He said the security deposit would be returned in 30 days minus the current month's water & sewer bill which i said was fine. I provided him my new address (this was June 24th - the day we vacated the house) On Aug 8 (days later i call my landlord as I had yet to receive my security deposit in the mail. He said he apologized and would get it out right away. I left for vacation and when i came back yesterday i had an envelope from him, it was dated on 8/9 (45 days after vacating premises) in which it shows my security deposit 1650 minus 82.30 for water/sewer and then 60.50 for "Repair of 72 nail holes & curtain holes, 1st, 2nd & 3rd floors. some plastering, sanding, primering & painting (2hrs 45 min @ 22/hr) " and then minus 153 for "additional cleaning of basement, 1st & 2nd floors, all appliances (inside of stove & refrigerator), ceiling fans, shelves, baseboards, cabinets. Still not equivalent to original move in condition a of 6/30/13. (4hrs 15 min @ 18 / hr 2 people). " This totaled 295.80 in subtractions leaving me with 1354.20.
This is the first time i've rented a house as I owned before relocating out to PA however my wife had rented several times and was shocked as she said she's never not received her security deposit back before. The nail holes and curtain holes i view as normal wear and tear. I paid for professional cleaning that was done as we finished moving out and carpet cleaning that was done after we left (carpet cleaning was required in the lease). I feel like this guy wants to incur no costs to turn over a property and charge tenants for any costs he may need to incur.
I also see nothing about the interest i know he legally owes me from the last year of rent (from what i see PA law requires interest when holding a security deposit for anything over 2 years).
I also know he only has 30 days in which to return my security deposit, so does that mean he doesn't have a leg to stand on with these deductions since it was past his 30 day window? What complicates matters is i now live in a different state and the cost for me to travel back to appear in small claims court would be more than the $213.5 in excessive charges. before i call him i wanted to ask for any advice as to what i should say / not say.
Submitted August 17, 2016 at 08:49PM by beholder95 http://ift.tt/2bB8HyS legaladvice
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