Location: Ohio
I bought a house and sent my 30 day notice on January 14th that I would be turning over the house I rented on February 28th. The letter included my new address. I lived at the rental house for a little over seven years with my now 25, 21, and 17 year old daughters. I sent my notice early because my landlords and I got along really well and I wanted to give them plenty of time to find a new tenant. Since this wasn't my first rental and I'd been screwed out of a deposit when I was much younger (straight out of high school), I made sure when I moved in to take pictures with that days newspaper with the date visible and notate any and all damages and send it to the landlord. I have the pictures and the copy of the letter that I sent the landlords 7+ years ago.
When I found the place in October of 2011, they had a tenant with a 5 year old and a large dog living in the house. I signed a lease to move in December 1st, but I had to move in with my parents because she hadn't moved out when I was supposed to take possession. It took until the end of January 30, 2011 for them to get the people at. During that time, the other tenant caused some damage to the walls and the garage door (but the door still functioned). In order to get me in the house quickly, the landlords cleaned the house and turned it over, promising to fix the damages while we lived there. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to some family issues with them.
The damages were mostly cosmetic (small holes in the walls and doors covered with round plastic patches, a room partially painted (which we finished painting with the paint they supplied), some fraying around the edges of the carpet (which they'd put in new when the tenant before me moved in - she was there 4 1/2 years), some red and brown stains on the carpet, some chips in the tile in the bathroom floor, the aforementioned dents in the garage door), lots of messes, but no structural damages. We had the carpets cleaned because they were so dirty, but they were still left very stained. The carpet cleaners said they did all that they could do to remove the stains.
During our stay there, there were a few issues: a serious plumbing issue caused by a leaky pipe under the upstairs bathtub that know one had any way of knowing about until it burst, a neighborhood kid threw a rock through the bay window (the mother paid to replace the window), the refrigerator went bad - spilling coolant all over the wooden laminate kitchen floor, and then a hose burst behind the dishwasher - which completely ruined the laminate floor. None of these were our fault and the landlords quickly fixed the issues.
Other than fixing issues and a Christmas card at the holidays, I really didn't hear from the landlords.
After sending my notice and not hearing from my landlords about showing the property, I texted my landlords on January 25th requesting a walk through on the 28th so I could return the keys. They seemed surprised that I was moving. I told them I'd sent my notice with the February rent the middle of January. A few hours later, they texted me that they'd found it in a pile of mail. The reply I got back from one of them was "'David' (not his real name) is really bad about opening mail and sometimes it sits on his desk for weeks. We'll see you the 28th at noon."
After moving out on the 27th, I cleaned the house as required by the lease - clean appliances, bathroom, and vacuum carpets. On the morning of the 28th, I went to the house at 11:30 to make sure all of the trash made it to the curb for trash pick up the next morning and to take a final walk through before they arrived.
When they arrived, 'John' and 'David' came in. 'David' did the walk through of the house while 'John' and I talked. 'John' thanked me for being a good tenant and asked for my new address again. I texted it to him and he confirmed that he received it. 'David' took about five minutes to walk through the house, shook my hand and then they both left.
When the 1st of April came around, I still hadn't received my deposit back. Since I bought my house from a family member that has the same last name, we had a small issue of my mail being forwarded to her new address and some of her mail not getting forwarded, so I gave her a call and asked her to be on the look out for it just in case it got forwarded to her. When I still hadn't received it on the 15th, I texted the landlords.
GWC: "Hey John and David. I hope all is well with you. Just wanted to give you a heads up that I still haven't received my security deposit back. Just wondering when it was mailed because I'm having some mail issues"
J: It cost me $3000 to replace the carpet and I still have to get a garage door.
GWC: The carpet was worn when we moved in. I was there for 7 years and the carpet was there 4 years before that. I'm sure that falls under typical wear and tear. What's going on with the garage door?
J: I'm sorry, I've had the same carpet in my house for 15 years and it still doesn't look that bad. That was well beyond normal wear and tear. The garage door panels on the bottom are bent beyond repair.
GWC: The garage damage was from the lady before me. I have pictures from the day I moved in of the condition of the house. Why wasn't I sent a letter informing me that you were keeping my deposit with an itemized statement of the repair costs?
J: I thought we were on better terms than that but if you want a letter I will send you a letter.
GWC: I thought we were too and that you'd follow the law properly.
J: You will get a letter. I need your new address.
I texted him my new address and still haven't received a letter.
If you've read this far, thank you.
This is where I need advice:
I googled Ohio tenant law and I'm confused. Some sites say I can sue for treble damages, some sites say I can sue for 5% annual interest on my security deposit plus my deposit (which some sites said I should have gotten annually from the landlord). What should I sue for? 3x my deposit? My deposit plus 5% interest? 3x my deposit plus interest? Just my deposit?
Will they automatically lose because they didn't send a letter?
Are their any penalties to them for not sending the letter?
Anything else I can do?
TLDR: Landlord kept my deposit, but didn't send a letter because he thought we were "on better standing than that". I have pictures and a list from when I moved in to prove there were existing damages upon move in. Wants to charge me $3000 for 11 year old carpets.
Written By: GypsyWriterChick
Source: http://bit.ly/2VihdcL
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