I Had A Housemate...What would you do?

[Nolapete]

I had a housemate move out after only giving 10 days notice.

He was told via email prior to moving in the terms of deposit return: 30 days notice, rent current, and the room as it was before he moved in.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the email conversation. He had insisted on having the terms in writing, so I didn't think I'd need to keep it at the time.

He's threatening to take me to court.

His deposit was less than half of the rent amount.

I told him that by not giving 30 days notice he forfeited the deposit.

I wasn't able to get anyone in the room for 12 days after he moved out, so I lost that amount of rent which was a little less than the deposit amount.

His last email claims that he obtained legal "advise" (go figure he can't even spell advice) that he should ask me one last time. He says that according to the law for month to month renting he's within his rights only giving 10 days notice.

I have spoken to an attorney friend and he told me I'm well within my rights and the law, though I haven't talked to him about this last email I received. I'll do that this weekend when I go over to visit.

What would you do?

[Riiz]

I would tell him to shove it, and good luck.

[The Zigman]

WIthout a written agreement between you it is going to be difficult to prove what you agreed upon. You could take him to small claims court, but the court costs would probably be more than the verdict.

I'd keep the money, and let him try to sue me...

[arachnar]

Judge Judy let her deal with him.

[AquaGem]

he probably doesn't even have legal advice and is just trying to scare you into giving in. what a bad housemate. I can only imagine what he was like to live with.

[Kashta]

Specific landlord-tenant laws vary state by state. You can find out exactly how they're written and are applied in your state by going to the state's .gov site and looking through the "revised statutes." You should also be able to find a tenant or landlord-tenant hotline for just this sort of information. (Call legal assistance in your area, they'll refer you to that hotline number.)

What I would do ... you have the deposit, he didn't give sufficient notice (as agreed), and he doesn't know you didn't keep that written agreement. Don't tell him you deleted that and keep the money. Let him sue you. Odds are very low that he will actually do it. And if he does, then he has to do either one of two things: (1) Produce his own copy of the written agreement to prove that there was one in writing. (He won't do that because it also proves he gave insufficient notice - thus losing the case he claims to have).... or (2) Tell the judge there was nothing in writing... in which case, this becomes a verbal agreement only (your word against his) and the Judge will likely apply his or her own idea of what is "fair" and "reasonable" based on what's commonly agreed upon in most other landlord-tenant disputes. I would think this will be the 30-day notice requirement. So, again, he loses the case and pays court costs.

[excuzzzeme]

If you have spoken to an attorney already, I would advise you to do as he /she said and forget about asking anything on a public forum. We come from too many different places and different laws to have any relevance to your location.

[DrNo]

Specific landlord-tenant laws vary state by state. You can find out exactly how they're written and are applied in your state by going to the state's .gov site and looking through the "revised statutes." You should also be able to find a tenant or landlord-tenant hotline for just this sort of information. (Call legal assistance in your area, they'll refer you to that hotline number.)

What I would do ... you have the deposit, he didn't give sufficient notice (as agreed), and he doesn't know you didn't keep that written agreement. Don't tell him you deleted that and keep the money. Let him sue you. Odds are very low that he will actually do it. And if he does, then he has to do either one of two things: (1) Produce his own copy of the written agreement to prove that there was one in writing. (He won't do that because it also proves he gave insufficient notice - thus losing the case he claims to have).... or (2) Tell the judge there was nothing in writing... in which case, this becomes a verbal agreement only (your word against his) and the Judge will likely apply his or her own idea of what is "fair" and "reasonable" based on what's commonly agreed upon in most other landlord-tenant disputes. I would think this will be the 30-day notice requirement. So, again, he loses the case and pays court costs.

Will you be my friend? :owned: Seriously, this is an outstanding plan of attack.

[Kashta]

Will you be my friend? :owned: Seriously, this is an outstanding plan of attack.

Aww thanks, DrV -- I'd be honored. :)

[Nolapete]

I feel like just telling him that if he doesn't have a copy of the email I sent him with the terms, he can have his attorney subpoena Google Gmail and have it obtained from their offline backup servers. It's my understanding that they don't delete anything off of those servers for this very reason.

[Kashta]

I would have no further contact with him at all. He will probably go away. If he does try to file suit against you, the burden to prove this case falls upon him for bringing it to the courts; not on you to refute it. The less said now, the better for you.

[Nolapete]

True. I did tell him to provide the email where I tell him what the terms were before he moved in. I know he won't because I clearly said 30 days notice, rent current, and room as it was when he moved in.

Thanks for the input.

[Nolapete]

PART IV. LESSEE'S DEPOSIT (http://www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/571183)

§3251. Lessee's deposit to secure lease; retention by lessor; conveyance of leased premises; itemized statement by lessor

A. Any advance or deposit of money furnished by a tenant or lessee to a landlord or lessor to secure the performance of any part of a written or oral lease or rental agreement shall be returned to the tenant or lessee of residential or dwelling premises within one month after the lease shall terminate, except that the landlord or lessor may retain all or any portion of the advance or deposit which is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. If any portion of an advance or deposit is retained by a landlord or lessor, he shall forward to the tenant or lessee, within one month after the date the tenancy terminates, an itemized statement accounting (http://www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/571183) for the proceeds which are retained and giving the reasons therefor. The tenant shall furnish the lessor a forwarding address at the termination of the lease, to which such statements may be sent.

B. In the event of a transfer of the lessor's interest in the leased premises during the term of a lease, the transferor shall also transfer to his successor in interest the sum deposited (http://www.answerbag.co.uk/q_view/571183) as security for performance of the lease and the transferor shall then be relieved of further liability with respect to the security deposit. The transferee shall be responsible for the return of the lessee's deposit at the termination of the lease, as set forth in Subsection A of this Section.

C. Paragraph A of this Section shall not apply when the tenant abandons the premises, either without giving notice as required or prior to the termination of the lease.


I found this searching for answers. Note the bold "remedy a default of a tenant." He was in default because he didn't give 30 days notice.

[A. Nonymous]

I know a lawyer who is fond of saying that if it's not in writing, it didn't happen. In another words, if you don't have any sort of agreement then it's probably your word against his unless there are specific laws in your state that govern all rental agreements.

[Dangerdoll]

Hate to say this but without handwritten signatures and/or dates, these could have come from anywhere.... and anytime..... and it likely what a judge will note on....

[Slappy*McFish]

I highly doubt you'll ever see a courtroom over this.

[Galaxie]

I know a lawyer who is fond of saying that if it's not in writing, it didn't happen. In another words, if you don't have any sort of agreement then it's probably your word against his unless there are specific laws in your state that govern all rental agreements.
If there is no rental agreement on file, then there is no proof that he gave a deposit either. I don't think a court would side with anyone here.

[J double R]

tell him (not so politely) where he could go. :)

[Sploke]

I agree with Kashta, let him throw his little fit and get over it, and take it as a lesson to get EVERYTHING in writing with signatures going forward. It may seem stupid or be a pain, but it makes situations like this very easy to sort.

[Blueiz]

If hes saying there was no agreement with that in it, then thats just it. Consider the break clean and move own. Now, if hes trying to feed you the line that you owe him his deposit back because there was some sort of agreement between you twos, tell him to produce the proof and you would be more than happy to oblige him according to the lease agreement that you BOTH signed and dated. The original copy of course, no reprints, with teh original signature. Actually if they want to keep harassing you, tell them to produce the document. Since he is the disgruntled one here, the ball is in his court to provide his evidence, of which of course he will have to provide in court if hes seriously going to pursue this.

[Nolapete]

You guys are great. You all have confirmed what I've been telling myself.

Last night, I went on a bit of a rant and wrote of full page of "Rental Terms" for my current housemates. I left a copy for each of them and wrote their name on the top.

The newest one stopped in at the house before I left for work. We talked about it and he offered to sign it and did. He told me that he didn't see anything on it that was unreasonable and everything was common courtesy. He's a great housemate.

I'm still waiting to see what the other will do.