if i did not sign a lease and moved out of the apt leaving it in good conditon does the landlord keep my depos

Question

he is now saying that the place was trashed he gave me half the deposit stating that everything was fine this was on mon he asked me to hold the ck till fri two days later he stopped payment on the ck and is now threatening to take me to court. he did not call and inform me of any problems when i called to get the other half o f the deposit he was irrational stating that the place was trashed which it was not !

Answer 1

did you do a walk thru with the landlord when you left?
even with out a lease in most states you need to give a 30 day notice....did you give 30 days?
if the place was in good order and NOTHING was damaged and none of your things were left behind then stand firm he is trying to push you around
but the place had to be left in immaculate condition
good luck

Answer 2

I don't think he can stop payment once he has given you the check.
You should have done a walk through or at the very least taken pictures. Did he put anything in writting as to why he with held part of the rent? Most states have laws that state that he must give written notice within a certain amount of time or he cannot hold any of the deposit.
I would file in small claims for the entire amount of the deposit and expect to win for the amount of the check that had the stop payment placed on it at the very least.

Answer 3

If your landlord was honorable, you'd be getting your deposit back. With no signed lease on your part....you might have been better off taking pictures and having him inspect the place. Now it is a matter of your word, against his. Can you really afford to go to court??? As a landlord....I personally would be good enough to give the deposit back if the apartment was left in livable conditions.

Answer 4

I'd venture that you did not get a signed copy of any document covering your move out inspection. Bad error on your part. Now it's his word against yours. I always provide my tenants with move in/move out statements of condition.