I signed a years lease for a single family unit and continued to rent on a month to month for 4 months past the termination date. On several occassions I called the maintainance man (property manager???) to fix a couple of problems that came up. I also had written to the landlord about the problems. I had provided a list of repairs that were needed in order for me to continue renting, one of which was the thermostat on the heater. I notified the landlord that I would not be able to afford to stay there unless this was fixed (it was costing $300 to $400 a month in propane during the previous winter months). I provided the list about 6 months prior to moving and did have the maintanance man come and tell me the drip tube in the water heater was disentigrating but that he would get the parts needed. After about 2 weeks he told me he had the parts but never showed up to repair the problem. The major problems I had that were the deciding factors to seek another residence in October was the lack of water pressure with white floaty things in the water and the imminent cost of propane due to the heater problem in November. I did not give 30 days notice, tried to give 2 weeks origanally but another house came available sooner. I was out by October 1st, walk through was done and keys turned in by October 5th and the maintanance man who did the walk through gave it an ok and told me that the landlord would refund the deposit in 30 days. it is now way past 30 days. My question is... If I terminated the month to month due to the ongoing and unrepaired problems, does the landlord have the right to keep the deposit? I did not think that this would be a problem because nothing was said to me when I contacted the maintanance man (properrty manager?) to let him know that I was leaving and even gave him the reason why.

I signed a years lease for a single family unit and continued to rent on a month to month for 4 months past the termination date. On several occassions I called the maintainance man (property manager???) to fix a couple of problems that came up. I also had written to the landlord about the problems. I had provided a list of repairs that were needed in order for me to continue renting, one of which was the thermostat on the heater. I notified the landlord that I would not be able to afford to stay there unless this was fixed (it was costing $300 to $400 a month in propane during the previous winter months). I provided the list about 6 months prior to moving and did have the maintanance man come and tell me the drip tube in the water heater was disentigrating but that he would get the parts needed. After about 2 weeks he told me he had the parts but never showed up to repair the problem. The major problems I had that were the deciding factors to seek another residence in October was the lack of water pressure with white floaty things in the water and the imminent cost of propane due to the heater problem in November. I did not give 30 days notice, tried to give 2 weeks origanally but another house came available sooner. I was out by October 1st, walk through was done and keys turned in by October 5th and the maintanance man who did the walk through gave it an ok and told me that the landlord would refund the deposit in 30 days. it is now way past 30 days. My question is... If I terminated the month to month due to the ongoing and unrepaired problems, does the landlord have the right to keep the deposit? I did not think that this would be a problem because nothing was said to me when I contacted the maintanance man (properrty manager?) to let him know that I was leaving and even gave him the reason why.

If you feel you have a good reason to break your lease, such as the conditions in your apartment being bad, you still take a risk when you move out before your lease has expired. If your landlord withholds your deposit and you sue him, a judge will determine whether you had a sufficient reason to break your lease. To protect yourself if you do break the lease, give the landlord as much notice as possible that you are moving.

I signed a years lease for a single family unit and continued to rent on a month to month for 4 months past the termination date. I did not give 30 days notice, tried to give 2 weeks origanally but another house came available sooner. I was out by October 1st, walk through was done and keys turned in by October 5th and the maintanance man who did the walk through gave it an ok and told me that the landlord would refund the deposit in 30 days. it is now way past 30 days. My question is... If I terminated the month to month due to the ongoing and unrepaired problems, does the landlord have the right to keep the deposit?

When did you give notice? You said you didn't even give two weeks. Did your original lease have an auto renewal clause? If not and you really were month to month then he can't keep your deposit because of the repairs but he is entitled to keep what you owe him and that is the month of Oct. since he didn't get 30 days notice(providing the lease doesn't say you needed to give 60 days). Do you know if he was able to re-rent in Oct.? Then he can't keep all of your rent I don't believe. Have you looked up the laws for your state? The law may give him longer than 30 days or it may only give him 15 days.

In looking at the Georgia tenant laws he has one month's time to return your deposit or the remainder with the list of deductions. However, does he have your new address? And does the PO have your forwarding address on file? If he tries to send it to you and it goes back to him he gets to keep it after 90 days. I'm not saying he's trying to get away with anything but I would send him a CRRR letter and quote the Georgia statute that he has violated. Give him 10 days to return your deposit and see if he responds. If the CRRR letter comes back don't open it...take it to court if you go.

Do you by any chance know how many rentals he owns? Was this an apt. complex or a house? If he owns more than ten rentals he has to have your deposit in an Escrow account or with the court and you were to be told where those funds were being held. If that's the case he'd be violating more statutes and you could sue for 3 times the amount. Doesn't mean you'd win...he could say he didn't know the law and you could only be awarded the original amount. Btw...how much was your deposit?

Hope some of this helps.