I lived with my roomate for over a year, and about half way through the duration of our time together, things started to get tense. He stained the carpet, the bathtub, and never cleaned up after himself or payed his bills on time. When we moved from one apartment to another, we all payed a deposit of 145. Two weeks into our stay here, I told him he needed to leave. He never paid the $150 in bills he still owed to us, and now he says he wants his deposit back. He was not on the lease, so the landlord can't do anything. He also left a mess in his room that I had to clean up. He also never paid his deposit from our old place, even though he caused over 500 in damages! I don't beleive I owe him his deposit. What do you guys think? Thanks so much for your input!!!
2007-03-18 11:43:16 · 12 answers · asked by Kelye R 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
You don't owe him a dime.
2007-03-18 11:46:30 · answer #1 · answered by J F 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all you are mixing many issues that shouldn't be related as justification for not returning the deposit. I don't know what agreement was made concerning the $145 deposit, but to me a deposit is returned when someone leaves an apartment and there isn't any damage. In that respect the right thing to do is return the deposit. I might also mention that it is somewhat crooked of you to have someone pay part of a damage deposit when they aren't even on the lease. Your roomate was foolish to pay for something and not have any of the rights that normally go with such a payment.
You too were foolish for agreeing to move to another apartment with someone that you knew to be tardy with paying bills and had caused damage in a previous apartment.
I think that it's best for both of you to go your separate ways;and I think that your former roomate should forgo the deposit to pay the amount that he owes you.
2007-03-18 19:03:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your beliefs don't matter. What does matter are the facts and the law.
He gave you a $145 deposit. He owes you $150. You need to send him a letter stating that you are deducting the $150 from the $145 deposit, and that he still owes you $5.
Many places allow for double or triple a deposit back if it was wrongly withheld. Wrongly withheld also means that someone didn't give you a full accounting of what the deposit was applied to.
That means that if you don't provide a proper accounting of a deposit, you can end up owing someone money even though they technically owed you because you didn't follow the law.
2007-03-18 19:31:17 · answer #3 · answered by BoomChikkaBoom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, you don't owe him a dime. The way I see it, he owes you a decent amount of money. Hopefully you have some kind of proof about your ex-roommates damage. (roommates that will write written statements, hopefully pictures of the damage). And hopefully you also kept receipts showing what you had to pay out of your own pocket to fix his mess. The $145 deposit that he paid is $5 short of what he owed from bills while living with you. So he owes you $5 towards bills PLUS whatever money you paid to fix his damage from your other apartment. Tell this ex-roommate that you are not paying him one dime. Tell him that if he doesn't drop it, you will go down to the courthouse and get the paperwork to file for a court date to take him to court for money he owes you. It is not expensive to do this and is really easy. And as long as you have witnesses and receipts for repairs, you will win your case. When you tell your ex-roommate this, chances are he will never bug you about it again. Warn all of your friends about this guy, so they never have him for a roommate.
2007-03-18 18:58:30 · answer #4 · answered by cmg1977 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In some states, a landlord needs to write a letter within 30 days explaining why he/she is keeping the security deposit in order to win a challenge in court by the former tenant asking for it back. In this case, y'all are not necessarily the landlord - but you are in a similarly placed situation. Therefore, I would just write a letter saying everything you said above. Just for extra security, end it by saying you are reserving the right to sue him for the cost of cleaning, bills he owes (which you can keep the security for anyway). In any event, the only way he can get the security back from you is by way of painful headlock or suing you. So just cover your butt and send him the letter. You don't have to give it back.
2007-03-18 18:49:56 · answer #5 · answered by Another Garcia 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No a deposit is something you put down upon leaving, your deposit is used for damages done to the apt. like cleaning, repair or replacement of the carpet disposal of propriety he left in the apt. so i don't think you owe him anything if he would like a copy of any monies you put out to clean up after him send him a copy. He would probably owe you. Don't give him anything
2007-03-18 18:53:52 · answer #6 · answered by Robin M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would not give him his deposit back. If you have any photos or proof of the damage/mess he made it could help you if he decides to sue you for the deposit.
2007-03-18 18:48:22 · answer #7 · answered by Diane A 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you did not have a written agreement he probably doesn't have much of a legal chance of getting his deposit back, but if you want him to go away and be done with the loser, it's cheap insurance to just give him the money.
2007-03-18 18:47:08 · answer #8 · answered by eyebtired 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most folks don't get their deposit back from apartment landlords.
Good roomates are rare!
2007-03-18 18:47:03 · answer #9 · answered by John K 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think he should get his deposit back. Explain to him why you feel he should not get it back. He needs to be accountable for his actions.
2007-03-18 18:47:50 · answer #10 · answered by Gayle84 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tell them to pound sand they got nothing coming
2007-03-18 18:47:37 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋