Apartment Security Deposit

no, should I do that way? Can I move the same topic there or have to create new one?

Thanks for quick reply.

Its 30 days prior notice. And I gave him written notice on 7-8th January. So even if I've to pay from deposit, it would be someting for 7-8 days only. right?

What state? Like Lordb said the exact rules can vary state to state.

They may be able to charge you a full months rent for late notice. Did they say why they're keeping the full $1000 exactly? Thats more than 1 month rent.

satchelsofgold is correct in that you should had given notice no later than January 1st. They are entitled to their rent for February, but that is only $650. They owe you the remaining $350, unless they can prove damages for that amount.

sfvera said:   satchelsofgold is correct in that you should had given notice no later than January 1st. They are entitled to their rent for February, but that is only $650. They owe you the remaining $350, unless they can prove damages for that amount.

Depends on the lease. I have seen ones that last for a year, but if you don't sign a new lease at the end of the year they go month to month, but with a hefty rental increase because they really don't want people to go month to month.

Anyways OP you really need to read your lease as well as state law. Without knowing that this is all guessing.

Also reverse plop

You need to mention what state you're in. Practically every state has a different set of rules with regards to how the security deposit is handled.

It's unclear whether your lease just ended in which case you don't need to give any notice or your lease ended and you became month to month and then didn't give proper notice.

Most places require written notice. And it's usually 30 days notice from when the rent is due. That means if you give notice January 1st and rent is due Feb 1st, that's 30 days notice, but if you gave notice on the 8th, that's less than 30 days from when the next payment is due which would mean you're giving notice for March 1st. However depending on the state, if they found someone to move in Feb 15th, they might not have the right to keep the entire deposit.

Again, we need the state.

We might also need to see the lease, some auto renew unless you give notice. Again you need to read the lease and see if it says anything about the end of the lease and notices that may be required.

hello all, thanks for all your reply.

I gave notice on 7-8th, to leave the apartment by 31st January. I came back from trip on 30th, so no one was there during 31st Dec, 1st Jan (which is understood) but then its my fault that i gave notice 1 week later. so hope to get money back, otherwise I'll keep making records of not getting my deposit back ever (just for trusting managers/landlords)
I'm in IL State. And I'll know soon if someone has leased the apartment or not.

I don't have anything written from them that I gave him notice even on 7-8th January.
Manager whom I know says that he faxed it over to main office. but that's all. But I did not renew the lease. And left the house on 31st January. Even when I asked to give me report on the condition of the apartment before leaving, he said that its fine. You don't need that and all.. etc etc. and I trusted that guy.

Now if i forget about 1K, do i still have to worry about paying another rent as I don't have any proof of giving them notice? or it depends on the lease?

Thats great info.
BTW What do you mean by Double your deposit in damages?

satchelsofgold said:   Some cities have their own landlord-tenant laws. So that's Illinois, but Chicago for example has its own law that is very tenant friendly. You need to check at the city level and see if the law gives you any leverage.

In Chicago if the landlord doesn't pay out the interest that's accrued on your security deposit at the end of every year--meaning fails to actually cut you a check for the $1.34 in interest or apply it to your rent--you're automatically entitled to double your deposit in damages. Just for example.

dealonalltime said:   I don't have anything written from them that I gave him notice even on 7-8th January.
Manager whom I know says that he faxed it over to main office. but that's all. But I did not renew the lease. And left the house on 31st January. Even when I asked to give me report on the condition of the apartment before leaving, he said that its fine. You don't need that and all.. etc etc. and I trusted that guy.

Now if i forget about 1K, do i still have to worry about paying another rent as I don't have any proof of giving them notice? or it depends on the lease?

You still didn't answer the question about the lease. Was it a one year lease that ended January 31st? And what did the lease say about the termination? Did it auto renew? I think if it said nothing, you didn't even have to give notice that you weren't going to renew, it's more up to the landlord to get you to sign a new lease otherwise you become month to month at the end of the lease.

According to Illinois law, the landlord has 30 days to return your security deposit from when you move out and must give you an accounting if it's withheld for damages. Sounds like he didn't didn't do that. Send them a letter and point out that they've failed to account for the security deposit and you may sue to collect up to 2x the security deposit.

imbatman said:   dealonalltime said:   Thats great info.
BTW What do you mean by Double your deposit in damages?

satchelsofgold said:   Some cities have their own landlord-tenant laws. So that's Illinois, but Chicago for example has its own law that is very tenant friendly. You need to check at the city level and see if the law gives you any leverage.

In Chicago if the landlord doesn't pay out the interest that's accrued on your security deposit at the end of every year--meaning fails to actually cut you a check for the $1.34 in interest or apply it to your rent--you're automatically entitled to double your deposit in damages. Just for example.

in this scenario, if your deposit is $1000, and they fail to cut you a check for 1.34, then the damages would be $2000.
Very tenant friendly.

However, you'd also have to prove that interest was earned on the deposit. If I were that landlord, I would put the $1000 in an interest free account to be safe.

While giving out the security deposit, It was required to give it with "Money Order" only. Is there way of finding out where would he put the money?

I have given the written notice, just not before 30 days.
The reason I specified not renewing the lease was as per the previous reply to me.
supersnoop00 said:   dealonalltime said:   Sorry,
The lease was ending in January-2012. And I moved on 31st January.
The Manager gave me the lease to renew, but I declined to renew and gave that back to him without signing.

Now only thing I've to confirm with my lease is - if it says auto renew? I don't think it does. But I'll make sure. Thank You for your reply. It's helping a lot.

There's a difference between not renewing a lease and moving out. If you don't renew a lease, you're still responsible for paying rent but you're not locked in for a preset duration. You still have to give 30 days notice. You seem to think that declining to sign a new lease conveyed your intent to vacate. That is not the case.

supersnoop00 said:   dealonalltime said:   Sorry,
The lease was ending in January-2012. And I moved on 31st January.
The Manager gave me the lease to renew, but I declined to renew and gave that back to him without signing.

Now only thing I've to confirm with my lease is - if it says auto renew? I don't think it does. But I'll make sure. Thank You for your reply. It's helping a lot.

There's a difference between not renewing a lease and moving out. If you don't renew a lease, you're still responsible for paying rent but you're not locked in for a preset duration. You still have to give 30 days notice. You seem to think that declining to sign a new lease conveyed your intent to vacate. That is not the case.

I think this all depends on what's in the lease and what is says about this situation. Normally a lease says you're using the space for a set period of time. At the end of the lease, if you're still in there, you may have created a new tenancy at will. If you've vacated the unit at the end of the lease then the lease has terminated and you haven't created any new lease. Not sure if there would be some other law in Illinois that may govern.

Here's a couple of links to read:

http://www.tenantunion.uiuc.edu/nolease.html

http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_co...

The last one has a link to a sample demand letter the tenant can send to the landlord. I think if he printed out the Illinois security deposit law and included that with the demand letter he'd probably get his security deposit back.

riznick said:   jerosen said:   Here's the law for Illinois on security deposits:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2202&Chapte...

Did they give you a receipt/invoice within 30 days? Looks like they should have.

Otherwise the breaking of the lease seems to follow the standard rules. You're liable for the rents till they rent it.

This is what I was referring to. I recommend you look into this.

In this case, I don't think the OP broke the lease, the lease expired and he didn't renew. He was asked to renew and didn't. Unless there's something in the lease that requires notice, the expiration of the lease doesn't require any notice.

henry33 said:   riznick said:   jerosen said:   Here's the law for Illinois on security deposits:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2202&Chapte...

Did they give you a receipt/invoice within 30 days? Looks like they should have.

Otherwise the breaking of the lease seems to follow the standard rules. You're liable for the rents till they rent it.

This is what I was referring to. I recommend you look into this.

In this case, I don't think the OP broke the lease, the lease expired and he didn't renew. He was asked to renew and didn't. Unless there's something in the lease that requires notice, the expiration of the lease doesn't require any notice.

Generally when a term lease expires you go to a month to month setup. Month to month terms still generally require 30 days advance notice. Just cause the lease expires doesn't give tenants the right to vacate without notice. (of course laws vary based on location)

riznick said:   jerosen said:   henry33 said:   riznick said:   jerosen said:   Here's the law for Illinois on security deposits:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2202&Chapte...

Did they give you a receipt/invoice within 30 days? Looks like they should have.

Otherwise the breaking of the lease seems to follow the standard rules. You're liable for the rents till they rent it.

This is what I was referring to. I recommend you look into this.

In this case, I don't think the OP broke the lease, the lease expired and he didn't renew. He was asked to renew and didn't. Unless there's something in the lease that requires notice, the expiration of the lease doesn't require any notice.

Generally when a term lease expires you go to a month to month setup. Month to month terms still generally require 30 days advance notice. Just cause the lease expires doesn't give tenants the right to vacate without notice. (of course laws vary based on location)
I think henry is getting the two 30 day rules mixed up.
If the landlord wants to keep the security deposit, they must provide an invoice or receipt within 30 days.

There's two things going on here, first I think OP didn't break a lease and second even if he did, the landlord failed to give proper notice as to the withholding of his security deposit.

As to the first part, it depends on state law and what's in the lease. Some states and some leases may say otherwise, but without actually seeing the lease, unless it had a provision that said he needed to give notice as to his intentions at the end of the lease, the end of the lease IS notice that he's leaving. In general it's true when the lease ends you're on a month to month setup. However OP left before he went to a month to month setup, there was no tenancy at will created and no notice required (unless the lease or state law says otherwise, the standard lease typically used in my state doesn't and I don't think my state has any state law that says otherwise. There may be a lease addendum that says otherwise).

Best bet for OP at this point may be to go to legal aid. They're usually free to tenants. I don't think landlords get the same free treatment. They can look at his paperwork and of course would be familiar with his state laws.

Revike said:   I wouldn't expect that a lease would be written in such a way. So a tenant could move out 1 day before the lease expires, with no notice, and that would be OK because the month-to-month rental had not officially kicked in? That's a truck-sized loophole.

Most (if not all) leases call for X days written notice of intention to vacate. "Written notice" normally requires (1) writing, (2) date, and (3) signature of tenant. Handing back an unsigned lease renewal does not qualify as "written notice" IMHO.

On the other hand, when the unsigned renewal was returned, the landlord should have made it clear to the tenant what the ramifications were and what rental period he would be responsible for. That said, I would probably let it slide if some gave me 3 weeks notice instead of a full month. But there are large, by-the-book management companies (or individual power-mad landlords) who wouldn't ...

Well believe it or not, the landlords have to do something sometimes too. It's usually part of their duties to see what the intentions of the tenant would be, normally it's just a verbal answer of whether they're going to stay and hence need to sign a new lease or if they're just going to leave at the end of their lease. By definition, a lease is for a specific time period, once it expires, the tenant can vacate or stay. Again it depends on what's in the lease, the standard lease used by realtors in this area actually has no provision for a 30 day notice prior to the expiration of the lease. That could be put in as an additional provision or be made part of an addendum so it's really important to read the lease.

henry33 said:   
Again it depends on what's in the lease, the standard lease used by realtors in this area actually has no provision for a 30 day notice prior to the expiration of the lease. That could be put in as an additional provision or be made part of an addendum so it's really important to read the lease.
So, on the day the lease expires, the landlord can kick the tenants out without any notice? The notice requirment is a legal protection for both parties. I have a hard time believing it's not in the lease or covered by state law in your area.

I am currently moving from apartment complex in California and put in 30 day notice in middle of the month with move out date being exactly 30 days from then (middle of month). Before reading this I assumed all places simply prorate the partial month as long as you give them proper 30 day notice and I just checked and the apartment management verified they will do so.