I am going to appologize first for this being soooo long but I feel that there needs to be background explained first. We moved from out of state 3 years ago to this 1930's duplex. Everything was orginal including the windows and ect, some of the windows were cracked. The landlord had made promises that they would be fixed along with the driveway to be refinished that summer. That landlord did not give us a lead disclouser ( we have two small children) and sold the property 6 months later without fixing anything. 6 months after the new landlord took over the property everything started to fall apart. This new landlord, nice , quiet single guy who has never owned any form of rental property. He now lives on the other side of the duplex. The plumbers have been out here half a dozen times, the plumbing has been replaced, the toliet replaced, the furnace replaced, etc. Our son a little over a year ago was found to have lead poisioning from the house and was hospitilized twice, the housing dept eventually had to take the landlord to court to get him to fix what had contained lead paint which was the windows, countertop, radiators, trim. After 6 months most of this is fixed.( We are in a long legal battle over the lead issue) Recently we had left a note on his door that the toliet was not working and it needed to be fixed (last time the plumber was out and hge said if there was another problem that the toliet had to be replaced) We left the note on his door for 4 days and he was entering and exiting the premises with the note still attached. Eventually he came over and asked if it was still broken. Along with that problem... With the original landlords they always sent us the cost of the water bill and it was promptly paid. This landlord has yet to give us a water bill and keeps saying "I need to give you your water bill" for over a year now. He also is constantly loosing the rent checks and wants me to cancel the originals and reissue the check and them will go months without cashing them. He is also under the impression that he doesnt have to return our sec deposit (we have kept good care of the place considering) since the original landlord did not mention it and keeps saying that he needs to contact the original landlord. We are getting ready to move and would hate to have this happen to another tennant. What exactly are our obligations and rights?

Demand an accounting for the security deposit, but on a practical note, I suggest you may be best off not paying the last month's rent and if asked, tell the owner you are using the security deposit as the last month's rent. The owner is really lackadaisical, so I imagine he will not even notice it. You can get into suing and all, but it does not sound like you would get any money, so maybe a practical approach of using the deposit as last month's rent then taking pictures of the property before you vacate to show you have no damages beyond ordinary wear and tear to keep in even you are sued is best. Consult local counsel also to see what their take on this is.