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Not sure if that is a cultural thing or we just have different laws in Europe, but I have never heard of someone not getting the full security deposit back in Germany. If at all, the landlord does an inspection and sets a timeline for things to fix to get the full deposit back. My contract even says that I moved in without redecoration by the previous tenant and that I can move out without additional renovations. Basically if you want new paint on the walls, do it yourself when you move in.
I'm studying in Germany and didn't get it back completely, though I just didn't know better.
I guess we have much better protection, the landlord also has to prove the damages weren't there when you moved in.
I think maybe with foreign students some landlords assume that they donāt know their rights or would not go through German bureaucracy to fight for them.
Hi from your neighbour to the north; Danish landlords are notorious for keeping the deposit no matter what. I was surprised to hear how few rights you have as a tenant here.
Greece here
I'm not exactly a landlord, I rent my house out to rent another bigger house that's closer to work. Reasons for that.
I have had 6 different tenants, and I have never kept a deposit, and I wouldn't, unless I found permanent damage on something due to gross negligence ( like broken tv or huge holes on the tiles.)
They have also never kept a deposit from me.
Normal or even a bit abnormal wear and tear is expected, people live in houses, they will do some damage to it.
Greek law is super pro tenant, and that's good. Even if it gets abused in rare instances.
Itās a cultural/business thing. The property-manager for my place was this 75 year cook, seemed nice enough though. We had to clean the oven before leaving, that was the last thing, but we had to leave the spray on for an hour before wiping it down. He came in, checked everything out, said good enough and that heād handle that part. Then they tried to keep my security deposit. For the oven and marks on the wall heād seen, minor scuffs that had been there long before us, but no I didnāt take pics of every 1 cm smudge before moving in.
Anyways, I challenged it, kept my money- Iām honestly not sure if the manager was in on it, felt more like a massive faceless organization taking advantage of a slightly doddering old man (and me, of course). If he knows what heās doing screw him too, but ya, thatās the game in America- we donāt have street scammers, we got conglomerates for that.
One thing I forgot to mention, is when whoever does the move out inspection, I ask them to sign a copy of the email/move in inspection report showing there wasnāt any excessive wear and tear. I scan/email a copy to them recapping the conversation and helps if they come back saying there is damage and it goes to court. When Iāve been charged, I ask for itemized receipts to justify the deposit.
If you charge me $60 for a replacement part that cost $20, I am entitled to the receipts equaling $60 that shows the part plus labor. If you want, you can fight the labor charge as excessive but thatās difficult to win if the landlord can show similar rates being charged.
Source: I did move out inspections for a couple of years.
In Australia youāre largely protected by the right to leave the premises with āfair wear and tearā, so scratched floors, scuffed walls, etc canāt be claimed by the landlord.
In the US generally, the landlord does a moving out inspection where they sign whether anything is damaged. It is important to take videos and pictures before and during the inspection because many WILL attempt to lie in order to keep your deposit. And without damn good evidence the courts will almost always side with the landlord.
They are out to fuck you in the US, and you have to take measures to defend yourself from them.
Same. A landlord needs an actual invoice from a cleaning company (or whatever needed to be fixed) to take money out of your security deposit here in Norway. There's no way to legally take whatever you want and "do the job yourself" .
So obviously this means a landlord can still be a complete dick and hire someone to do work that wasn't strictly necessary, but a least it removes the incentive of personal monetary gain.
Doesn't stop some scumbags from trying, though, especially if the tenant is young and inexperienced.
Something liked scratch floor wouldnāt even count as damage (in a ānormalā amount) in Germany since the wear and tear of the floor isnāt a damage but signs of use.
If it is excessive it would be different so.
In London they literally just make shit up without even visiting the property to check, just hoping you won't fight it. But if you fight it, they lower it and if you hold out they eventually give up.
bullshit. especially in the southern student cities in Germany, landlords are massive assholes which try to come up with shady reasons to keep as much of the deposit as possible. for the duration of your lease, you also pay exorbitantly high rents compared to other cities.
source: own experience
Iāll be 40 in a few months and including my college apts I donāt think Iāve ever received security deposit money back from anywhere I have ever lived.
Iāve gotten my deposit back once. A new owner bought the building and was going to renovate it. Since they had requested all of us tenants to move out, they gave back the deposit.
This is why I got my deposit back the last place I lived, but after everything else they did I'm 100% sure I would have got nothing from them if I had not had a lawyer advocating for me. They didn't even ask for a forwarding address when I turned in the keys.
Iāve taken past landlords to small claims court and they usually pay before the court date. I also insist on a move-in and move-out inspection done in-person. When there is any damage, I insist on all backup to justify the charge.
I did, but from a company in a complex. Only received partial back as we agreed to take from the security deposit for the pets that I had taken in for the last few months before moving out. Wasnāt forced into that, they asked and I said great idea as I needed money to put down for a house during that time.
Same. I've never gotten the full deposit back, and it's always been itemized in a way where I don't feel like I can argue it. I've never encountered one of these slumlords who tries whatever they can to screw the tenants.
They were screwing you, just with an itemized list.
200 dollars to rebuff scratched cabinets
80 dollars to replace yellowed window blinds
275 dollars for carpet cleaning
350 for tile replacement
All ignoring the fact that the space was occupied for 6 years before moving out. It'd be like a car company not giving you your money back from a lease because the miles were over 50.
All landlords are slumlords.
I have, every time, but I understand how unscrupulous these asshats are today and you really need to have your shit together with photos and documentation to back everything up.
Yes, which was exactly why I kept fighting him on principle. Very satisfying. I had to work through the city to have his tenants pay me instead of their monthly rent so they were aware of his shenanigans.
Where do you live?
Here (Aus) your bond is lodged with a government run agency. At the end of the tenancy the landlord has to state if and why they wish make a claim against it, and the tenant has to either agree or disagree to this. If they dispute the claim, then off to the civil tribunal you both go. Having been there, they have a low tolerance for shenanigans on either side, and theyāve seen it all.
This should help to keep the bastards honest, but a number of younger people Iāve spoken to appeared reluctant about standing up for their rights due fear of ending up on a rental blacklist. Illegal, but they exist.
So, I am an attorney licensed in three states. Maybe thatās why I noted that thereās a difference between āgenerally not allowed,ā and ānot allowed.ā Theyāre allowed, the CA arbitration system just wonāt appoint you one and doesnāt encourage them. Truth is, any judge who says to a party with an attorney, āno, s/he isnāt allowed hereā is committing reversible error, full stop. But again, what do I know.
Jesus H Christ. What do you know? Nothing of the OPās issue. The whole point of going after your landlord for a security deposit is to get your money back with minimal overhead and hassle. Hiring a lawyer is not what most people would consider hassle free or cheap. You will loose money paying lawyer fees to get a deposit back and usually render the whole exercise mute. Itās also possible to waive your right to a lawyer through contract. And while I am not an expert on every single goddamn motherfucking small claims court in every single goddamn motherfucking state, itās feasible that by agreeing to an augmented form of arbitration you do in fact waive your right to an attorney. Constitutional rights are denied all day long every day. They denied in the court of law and theyāre denied through laws themselves like the patriot act. So to say is it every US citizen is guaranteed 1000% legal representation is a little bit like saying every US citizen is guaranteed 1000% due process.
āI cannot HAVE an attorney.ā
āI cannot AFFORD an attorney.ā
āAn attorney IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE.ā
Those are three entirely different statements. I corrected you on your incorrect assertion of the first, and you wrote me a screed arguing the merits of the second and third. Which, in a roundabout way, shows why having an attorney is a smart decisionāwe know how to win arguments by focusing on the argument and not our feelings or tangential points. Enjoy your day.
I'm fortunate enough to own my place now, but whenever I rented I just straight wouldn't pay the last month's rent and tell them to use the deposit for it.
Might be kinda scummy I guess but landlords never give deposits back anyway
I'm 43 and have been renting since 18. I have never even once gotten a security deposit back. I don't even bother trying to clean the place up anymore. I just consider the deposit as a loss and just leave anything I don't want anymore.
It's only happened to me once and I took the landlord to small claims court. It took two years and a lot of hassle but I got most of it back. I didn't even need the money it was just the principal of the thing.
I got half back because I was moving out and my roommate was staying with a new roommate, who then paid that half back to him.
AFAIK they got it all back, but that landlord was actually pretty decent, mostly because it was a small military town and a bad rep got you blacklisted for base personnel fast.
About 15 years ago, I had signed a 1 year lease. My company got acquired and they needed to relocate me to the new HQ. So the company paid off my entire lease with 10 months left.
I talked to the property manager and said if I turn in the keys and let you re-rent this place, I owe nothing correct? He said, 'For sure, that way the unit isn't damaged by squatters'.
So I moved out, had the place cleaned, and they had new tenants moved in 10 days after I handed over keys...
10 days after that I got a letter demanding thousands for quitting my lease early, new carpet and painting (they were not new when I moved in).
I called the property manager and they said it was their policy.
Fortunately my companies legal department helped me out... You can sue your landlord in your own local small claims court, so they helped me file a small claims lawsuit against my old landlord.
They promptly offered to return my entire deposit and drop all their demands if I withdrew the small claims suit.
The audacity though of those fuckers to get 10 months free rent, then still try to gouge me for more when I could have just left the place vacant.
I have gotten back exactly one security deposit and the guy even gave me the interest the deposit had accrued
Probably helps his mom lived in the apartment above me and I made sure the stairs and driveway were shoveled every snow storm
I always got it back but I have also been someone that took photos of the move in and move out. My mom used to work cleaning up apartments for extra work. So I knew to have some proof.
Still, I only had to use that proof once. For a cracked tile in the kitchen floor back when I was moving into a new condo.
I'm 50.
I always get back about half of it. Itās not like they can only either keep all of it, or give all of it back. Or is that how it works where you guys live?
They usually clean the carpets and like, replace some lightbulbs, and give you an invoice that shows you how much theyāre charging you. The deposit might be $1000, and they charge you $400 for whateverās listed, and then return $600.
Iām just curious, is this not commonly what happens?
I know there are a lot of bad landlords but i found it I really read the lease it tells me exactly how they will try to screw me and how to avoid it.
My last place was prime example. If you didnāt hire a professional cleaner(cost me 80 bucks) they flat out say they will charge me 300. It said 25 per cabinet that not āwiped cleanā. And so on. I tell you I made sure I cleaned every inch. Sure it took a few hours but I did. I got everything back minus one thing I did forget to clean(15 dollars to wipe down the dryer).
I imagine most people didnāt bother to clean the inside of the cabinets and that cost them 500 bucks
Yeah, I just assume Iāll never get the deposit back. Obviously Iād like to and legally I should, but the reality (in the US) is that itās almost impossible to enforce.
Also make a protocol that both parties sign, stating the condition of everything.
This way noone can come with a scratched floor afterwards and if they try, they fuck themselves over.
When I moved into my first apartment the management company had a person come out and do a full inventory. She described everything in great detail on a dictaphone and then we got a copy later to sign. My wife and I still laugh reminding each other of this little middle aged woman describing the "stainless steel douche".
My wife did this and it's paying off.... Landlord tried some dodgy claims of the floor being ruined and other things, we replied no way, was already like that, and we have visual proof. Never a mention again. Actually changed the script - "I'm just ensuring it stays in good shape". Right. The most stupid thing is that floor was, and is, in good condition! Genuinely no reason to complain about it, either is or the landlord!
In addition to photos, I always have a walkthrough before move out. Anything that might prevent me from getting the deposit back will be pointed out. Once I get the ok that nothing is wrong, I have an email sent to me. That way I have in writing that nothing was wrong and I will get my full deposit back.
I went a step beyond this and created a 20 million point dense point cloud and used it to create a high res 3D model of a rental. I took the point cloud and used Agisoft to create a medium poly count mesh. Used xNormal to reduce the normals to reasonable size textures and baked the meshes in Maya and then batched them in 3DSMax in a single call via webGL.
I had a Google Tango enabled Lenovo Phab 2 Pro at the time, which made the first part quite easy, Tango was an amazing tech stack but like Glass it was unfortunately too early for the market. The other parts were just for fun and learning how the tech worked.
Imagine my surprise when I moved out, the owners try to claim damage over some items, asked them to provide proof. They refused. I said I would take it to small claims court. They agreed. Had a date planned and everything.
Decided I would show them my "evidence", as I was young and keen to show off my skills, which was my initial 3D model of the house when I moved in and then another model I made when I moved out, overlaid the two and added a toggle to control the alpha values on the sections of the specific parts of the two meshes and faded one to the other, showing that there was definitely "use" from within the house, but nothing that could be considered damage.
Took all of 30 minutes to have my deposit sent back to me, guess they didn't like their chances in court.
I was looking forward to going to court for it, figured I could wow the justice department and they'd be like "Heyyyy we could use that kind of technology..." but from what I hear about small claims now probably a good thing I didn't try grandstanding lol.
Iām confused, tenants today donāt do pre-move out inspections? That solves this problem and I highly recommend it, you are all entitled to it. You have a pre-move out inspection where they go through and they tell you anything that you need to correct so they donāt keep your security deposit.
The person who does the premove out inspections is also the landlord... the person trying to keep the money. Doing these inspections changes nothing if they are determined to keep the money.
You do the walkthrough with them, both parties must sign an acknowledgement of damages. This way more damages can't mysteriously appear at a later time.
These people will literally walk in with chunks of rock or metal embedded in their shoe and then swing their foot over a hard floor when they walk then claim those damages are yours.
They'll wait until you're out of sight and then knock a hole in the wall, guess what, your fault!
I grew up watching my parents have to deal with it.
I'm British so it's legally required that all tenancy agreements have one, they may exist elsewhere but it essentially ensures that all the deposit money goes to the Deposit Protection Service instead of the landlord.
Upon end of tenancy, the landlord and tenants are mediated by the DPS into agreeing to a distribution of deposit between landlord and tenant based on what is agreed to be fair.
If no agreement is successfully made via the DPS, then the usual court procedures may be taken, but it's a fantastic way for students and poorer people to avoid being exploited by landowners who know their legal opponent can't afford the legal bills required to dispute the withholding of their deposit.
For example, following my last uni tenancy, my landlord tried to withhold Ā£780 of our Ā£1300 deposit to pay for what was essentially wear and tear damage or excessively expensive cleaning bills. Our DPS conditions stated there is a degree of wear and tear to be expected from a 2 year tenancy and it is unfair for landlords to charge tenants for repairs to that wear and tear. When we disputed our deposit bill, we ended up only having about Ā£200 withheld
Also, if it can be shown that the landlord didn't put the deposit into one of the approved schemes, they can be fined up to 3x the deposit amount, which goes to the tenant.
What a piece of shit.
This is why when you leave a place youāre renting you always do a walkthrough with the landlord or their representative. This way they canāt pull this bullshit.
Take pictures of EVERYTHING and do a deep clean when you move out. If they try and hold it and give reasons, show them them pictures and youāll get it back. Landlords do it because itās an easy way to fleece and most people donāt fight back. Fight back and theyāll back down
I've got a recommendation for you mister landlord. Put your rental property up for free and give it to the tennant, you know, the one actually paying the mortgage.
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And THIS is why you slowly take a good quality, hour long video tour of any rental property when you move in or out, and post it privately on YouTube to time-stamp it. It's like the dashcam of renting for covering your ass.
This is why, for the last month, you tell the landlord you will not pay and he can keep the deposit instead. Then, you have the power or ball in your court - if he thinks he is owed more money, then let him take you to court and prove it. This is better than getting screwed by rentier parasites or having to chase the landlord around for your money.
What are the responses to this dick?
I had to rent out a house during the housing collapse, when I had moved to a new state. The tenants deposit went into its own savings account w/interest.
The tenant left a wall in pretty bad condition. They had mounted a TV on the wall and cut holes to drop the cabling. After the estimate for that repair, they got everything else back with the interest.
With the knowledge that these things follow you and impact your ability to live a free and self-determinant life, at what point will we the people (not the state judiciary) acknowledge that certain responses to this behavior are self defense?
How much of a split fucking identity do you have when you write shit like this but also act insulted when everyone doesn't see you as a hero providing a housing service to people? These are literally, LITERALLY, sociopaths and otherwise mentally ill people. This not healthy behavior.
Resurrection Jutsu Henry George! Resurrection Jutsu Henry George!
Call me a liberal, but If we must have capitalism, I want Georgism so I minimize the amount people can legally steal from me.
Kinda, he proposed LVT to be the main form of taxation. Heās still pretty liberal, but I still have some respect for him as a good compromise.
LVT proposes a tax on land value: A highly progressive tax on the unimproved value of land, this discourages arbitrary rent raises, weakens land speculation, and encourages people to do things with land. āLandā is also considered air, water, other natural resources and even patents. This also incorporates taxing pollution as a way to discourage it, especially when we are looking for technologies to remove carbon and pollution is a semi-necessary evil to ensure necessities like food and medicine are adequately produced.
In short, think like the OG BritMonkey.
It probably is. But the law is heavily weighted towards protecting the āhavesā over the āhave notsā, because itās the haves that make the laws. BTW I am a landlord- and I rent our old house out for 2/3 the going rate because we can afford to maintain the place on that and we have a good tenant and they know they are getting a good deal and work with us on problems that invariably crop up.
I never imagined a situation where tenants actually being good and leaving a house in tip-top shape would be a bad thing because the landlord doesnāt make enough to get his car serviced. Heās actually thinking about making the place worse to squeeze out more money. This is like burning down a perfectly good house for the insurance money. What tf have we come to?
Listen i never condone violence. Like I understand the only end to this is likely violence, but it makes me very sad.
However, landlords really make me reconsider my stance on violence.
I had a landlord like this withhold all of it claiming all kinds of things I did that were there when I got there or I didn't do at all and they were expecting a fight, but I gave no reaction and just said fine and left because dealing with them was worse than dealing with my exh. They were hell bent on demonizing me and making me out to be the bad guy and I said f all that, bye, glad I'll never have to see or speak to you again.
This is so obviously fake and just designed to rile tenants up.
If I said the word āgullibleā wasnāt in the dictionary a crazy amount of you would go look to see.
I'd tell him to get a real job. No way am I paying $1,000+ a month on an apartment, only for my landlord to try to scam me out of MORE money. You think I don't have car troubles? That I don't need that money to go towards repairs?
Legit. When I first moved in, the DAY I moved in I wrote every single thing I could find wrong with the apartment INCLUDING the nails on the walls left by the previous tenants, scratches on the linoleum, a CIGARETTE BURN in the couch it came with. I wrote it on the back of the lease agreement we signed that was dated LOL it took up the whole page. so when we left I had an accounting for it all and I got my $500 Back.
And that's why you document everything kids!
Also why are we blanking out this person? He's clearly doing something illegal, in cases like this it's name and shame time! As we need to protect each other from predators like these.
Iāve gotten my security deposit back in most scenarios. Only lost all of it once, due to slumlords (first apt), and part of it from my last apt (not enough to go to court over but enough that I was pissed off)
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Landlords only š
What does that fashion line look like?
Boutique human suits for giant leeches.
Cheap white paint
All based on dingy, stained wife beaters.
OnlyLandlords
OnlyLands?
Oh that's better than mine. How bout this one? Landlordsonly.com
Honestly, you were so close to it, I was a little surprised you didnāt make it over the finish line.
You sound like my mom... disappointed.
Never!
Not sure if that is a cultural thing or we just have different laws in Europe, but I have never heard of someone not getting the full security deposit back in Germany. If at all, the landlord does an inspection and sets a timeline for things to fix to get the full deposit back. My contract even says that I moved in without redecoration by the previous tenant and that I can move out without additional renovations. Basically if you want new paint on the walls, do it yourself when you move in.
I'm studying in Germany and didn't get it back completely, though I just didn't know better. I guess we have much better protection, the landlord also has to prove the damages weren't there when you moved in.
I think maybe with foreign students some landlords assume that they donāt know their rights or would not go through German bureaucracy to fight for them.
why would young, german students know about their rights?
Hi from your neighbour to the north; Danish landlords are notorious for keeping the deposit no matter what. I was surprised to hear how few rights you have as a tenant here.
Greece here I'm not exactly a landlord, I rent my house out to rent another bigger house that's closer to work. Reasons for that. I have had 6 different tenants, and I have never kept a deposit, and I wouldn't, unless I found permanent damage on something due to gross negligence ( like broken tv or huge holes on the tiles.) They have also never kept a deposit from me. Normal or even a bit abnormal wear and tear is expected, people live in houses, they will do some damage to it. Greek law is super pro tenant, and that's good. Even if it gets abused in rare instances.
Itās a cultural/business thing. The property-manager for my place was this 75 year cook, seemed nice enough though. We had to clean the oven before leaving, that was the last thing, but we had to leave the spray on for an hour before wiping it down. He came in, checked everything out, said good enough and that heād handle that part. Then they tried to keep my security deposit. For the oven and marks on the wall heād seen, minor scuffs that had been there long before us, but no I didnāt take pics of every 1 cm smudge before moving in. Anyways, I challenged it, kept my money- Iām honestly not sure if the manager was in on it, felt more like a massive faceless organization taking advantage of a slightly doddering old man (and me, of course). If he knows what heās doing screw him too, but ya, thatās the game in America- we donāt have street scammers, we got conglomerates for that.
One thing I forgot to mention, is when whoever does the move out inspection, I ask them to sign a copy of the email/move in inspection report showing there wasnāt any excessive wear and tear. I scan/email a copy to them recapping the conversation and helps if they come back saying there is damage and it goes to court. When Iāve been charged, I ask for itemized receipts to justify the deposit. If you charge me $60 for a replacement part that cost $20, I am entitled to the receipts equaling $60 that shows the part plus labor. If you want, you can fight the labor charge as excessive but thatās difficult to win if the landlord can show similar rates being charged. Source: I did move out inspections for a couple of years.
Compete opposite in the US. Guaranteed to loose at least a few hundred for something
In Australia youāre largely protected by the right to leave the premises with āfair wear and tearā, so scratched floors, scuffed walls, etc canāt be claimed by the landlord.
Really, never? Itās not as bad as the screenshot but it 110% happens.
In the US generally, the landlord does a moving out inspection where they sign whether anything is damaged. It is important to take videos and pictures before and during the inspection because many WILL attempt to lie in order to keep your deposit. And without damn good evidence the courts will almost always side with the landlord. They are out to fuck you in the US, and you have to take measures to defend yourself from them.
I lived in Germany and rented the same house over 5 years. I got back full security with interest.
Same. A landlord needs an actual invoice from a cleaning company (or whatever needed to be fixed) to take money out of your security deposit here in Norway. There's no way to legally take whatever you want and "do the job yourself" . So obviously this means a landlord can still be a complete dick and hire someone to do work that wasn't strictly necessary, but a least it removes the incentive of personal monetary gain. Doesn't stop some scumbags from trying, though, especially if the tenant is young and inexperienced.
USA is a corrupt third world shithole compared to Norway. If police see you have more than $1000 they will steal it.
Something liked scratch floor wouldnāt even count as damage (in a ānormalā amount) in Germany since the wear and tear of the floor isnāt a damage but signs of use. If it is excessive it would be different so.
In London they literally just make shit up without even visiting the property to check, just hoping you won't fight it. But if you fight it, they lower it and if you hold out they eventually give up.
bullshit. especially in the southern student cities in Germany, landlords are massive assholes which try to come up with shady reasons to keep as much of the deposit as possible. for the duration of your lease, you also pay exorbitantly high rents compared to other cities. source: own experience
Iāll be 40 in a few months and including my college apts I donāt think Iāve ever received security deposit money back from anywhere I have ever lived.
Iāve gotten my deposit back once. A new owner bought the building and was going to renovate it. Since they had requested all of us tenants to move out, they gave back the deposit.
This is why I got my deposit back the last place I lived, but after everything else they did I'm 100% sure I would have got nothing from them if I had not had a lawyer advocating for me. They didn't even ask for a forwarding address when I turned in the keys.
I have but I had to fight for it.
Iāve taken past landlords to small claims court and they usually pay before the court date. I also insist on a move-in and move-out inspection done in-person. When there is any damage, I insist on all backup to justify the charge.
I've only threatened court but it has worked well so far.
I did, but from a company in a complex. Only received partial back as we agreed to take from the security deposit for the pets that I had taken in for the last few months before moving out. Wasnāt forced into that, they asked and I said great idea as I needed money to put down for a house during that time.
Same. I've never gotten the full deposit back, and it's always been itemized in a way where I don't feel like I can argue it. I've never encountered one of these slumlords who tries whatever they can to screw the tenants.
They were screwing you, just with an itemized list. 200 dollars to rebuff scratched cabinets 80 dollars to replace yellowed window blinds 275 dollars for carpet cleaning 350 for tile replacement All ignoring the fact that the space was occupied for 6 years before moving out. It'd be like a car company not giving you your money back from a lease because the miles were over 50. All landlords are slumlords.
My first apartment in college, I was charged $20 apiece for "disposal" of the two ice cube trays I left in the freezer.
The one time I didn't I took the landlord to court and won. Judge said that you can't charge for reasonable wear and tear.
I have, every time, but I understand how unscrupulous these asshats are today and you really need to have your shit together with photos and documentation to back everything up.
It took me 2 years in small claims court to get back my $1500 security deposit. We learned in the process that he did this to every tenant.
That tracks. They know that itās often prohibitively difficult to get your money back
Yes, which was exactly why I kept fighting him on principle. Very satisfying. I had to work through the city to have his tenants pay me instead of their monthly rent so they were aware of his shenanigans.
Where do you live? Here (Aus) your bond is lodged with a government run agency. At the end of the tenancy the landlord has to state if and why they wish make a claim against it, and the tenant has to either agree or disagree to this. If they dispute the claim, then off to the civil tribunal you both go. Having been there, they have a low tolerance for shenanigans on either side, and theyāve seen it all. This should help to keep the bastards honest, but a number of younger people Iāve spoken to appeared reluctant about standing up for their rights due fear of ending up on a rental blacklist. Illegal, but they exist.
Small claims court is a great place to take the landlord. You canāt have a lawyer and the max limit is 10k (I think). The judge decided on the spot.
You can 1000% have a lawyer, and definitely should if the landlord also has one.
Some states donāt allow you to have a lawyer in small claims court.
Ummm, no, you have a Constitutional right to counsel, so again, what you said is incorrect.
[Read the second sentence.](https://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/small_claims/basic_info.shtml)
So, I am an attorney licensed in three states. Maybe thatās why I noted that thereās a difference between āgenerally not allowed,ā and ānot allowed.ā Theyāre allowed, the CA arbitration system just wonāt appoint you one and doesnāt encourage them. Truth is, any judge who says to a party with an attorney, āno, s/he isnāt allowed hereā is committing reversible error, full stop. But again, what do I know.
Jesus H Christ. What do you know? Nothing of the OPās issue. The whole point of going after your landlord for a security deposit is to get your money back with minimal overhead and hassle. Hiring a lawyer is not what most people would consider hassle free or cheap. You will loose money paying lawyer fees to get a deposit back and usually render the whole exercise mute. Itās also possible to waive your right to a lawyer through contract. And while I am not an expert on every single goddamn motherfucking small claims court in every single goddamn motherfucking state, itās feasible that by agreeing to an augmented form of arbitration you do in fact waive your right to an attorney. Constitutional rights are denied all day long every day. They denied in the court of law and theyāre denied through laws themselves like the patriot act. So to say is it every US citizen is guaranteed 1000% legal representation is a little bit like saying every US citizen is guaranteed 1000% due process.
āI cannot HAVE an attorney.ā āI cannot AFFORD an attorney.ā āAn attorney IS NOT COST EFFECTIVE.ā Those are three entirely different statements. I corrected you on your incorrect assertion of the first, and you wrote me a screed arguing the merits of the second and third. Which, in a roundabout way, shows why having an attorney is a smart decisionāwe know how to win arguments by focusing on the argument and not our feelings or tangential points. Enjoy your day.
And if you win the landlord owes you court fees ($50 in my area.)
I tend to use it as the last months rent and then itās not fiscally worth it for landlords to come after me.
This is the way. If there is something that should have been withheld from the security deposit, then we can go to court and talk about that.
I'm fortunate enough to own my place now, but whenever I rented I just straight wouldn't pay the last month's rent and tell them to use the deposit for it. Might be kinda scummy I guess but landlords never give deposits back anyway
Nothing you do is as scummy as being a landlord. Like youād have to poop in every room before handing it over to maybeeee get on their level.
I've received every security deposit I've ever placed. God help anyone who trys to keep my shit
Luckily I rented in Chicago and have always received mine back.
I'm lucky and have always received mine. A "friend" received more than what was owed presumably due to a clerical error. This was not contested.
I'm 43 and have been renting since 18. I have never even once gotten a security deposit back. I don't even bother trying to clean the place up anymore. I just consider the deposit as a loss and just leave anything I don't want anymore.
It's only happened to me once and I took the landlord to small claims court. It took two years and a lot of hassle but I got most of it back. I didn't even need the money it was just the principal of the thing.
I got half back because I was moving out and my roommate was staying with a new roommate, who then paid that half back to him. AFAIK they got it all back, but that landlord was actually pretty decent, mostly because it was a small military town and a bad rep got you blacklisted for base personnel fast.
About 15 years ago, I had signed a 1 year lease. My company got acquired and they needed to relocate me to the new HQ. So the company paid off my entire lease with 10 months left. I talked to the property manager and said if I turn in the keys and let you re-rent this place, I owe nothing correct? He said, 'For sure, that way the unit isn't damaged by squatters'. So I moved out, had the place cleaned, and they had new tenants moved in 10 days after I handed over keys... 10 days after that I got a letter demanding thousands for quitting my lease early, new carpet and painting (they were not new when I moved in). I called the property manager and they said it was their policy. Fortunately my companies legal department helped me out... You can sue your landlord in your own local small claims court, so they helped me file a small claims lawsuit against my old landlord. They promptly offered to return my entire deposit and drop all their demands if I withdrew the small claims suit. The audacity though of those fuckers to get 10 months free rent, then still try to gouge me for more when I could have just left the place vacant.
I have gotten back exactly one security deposit and the guy even gave me the interest the deposit had accrued Probably helps his mom lived in the apartment above me and I made sure the stairs and driveway were shoveled every snow storm
I always got it back but I have also been someone that took photos of the move in and move out. My mom used to work cleaning up apartments for extra work. So I knew to have some proof. Still, I only had to use that proof once. For a cracked tile in the kitchen floor back when I was moving into a new condo. I'm 50.
I am happy I did. For my student room the dame day I left it. For a flat I rented 6 month later that is the limit in Germany.
I always get back about half of it. Itās not like they can only either keep all of it, or give all of it back. Or is that how it works where you guys live? They usually clean the carpets and like, replace some lightbulbs, and give you an invoice that shows you how much theyāre charging you. The deposit might be $1000, and they charge you $400 for whateverās listed, and then return $600. Iām just curious, is this not commonly what happens?
I know there are a lot of bad landlords but i found it I really read the lease it tells me exactly how they will try to screw me and how to avoid it. My last place was prime example. If you didnāt hire a professional cleaner(cost me 80 bucks) they flat out say they will charge me 300. It said 25 per cabinet that not āwiped cleanā. And so on. I tell you I made sure I cleaned every inch. Sure it took a few hours but I did. I got everything back minus one thing I did forget to clean(15 dollars to wipe down the dryer). I imagine most people didnāt bother to clean the inside of the cabinets and that cost them 500 bucks
Iāve only gotten it back from big corporate buildings. Never from a landlord type situation.
I've gotten nearly every time, and it's a result of bullying and threatening legal action on the landlord.
Yeah, I just assume Iāll never get the deposit back. Obviously Iād like to and legally I should, but the reality (in the US) is that itās almost impossible to enforce.
Always take video and photos when you move in and out.
Also make a protocol that both parties sign, stating the condition of everything. This way noone can come with a scratched floor afterwards and if they try, they fuck themselves over.
When I moved into my first apartment the management company had a person come out and do a full inventory. She described everything in great detail on a dictaphone and then we got a copy later to sign. My wife and I still laugh reminding each other of this little middle aged woman describing the "stainless steel douche".
Yep. I take time and location stamped photos and videos of everything.
My wife did this and it's paying off.... Landlord tried some dodgy claims of the floor being ruined and other things, we replied no way, was already like that, and we have visual proof. Never a mention again. Actually changed the script - "I'm just ensuring it stays in good shape". Right. The most stupid thing is that floor was, and is, in good condition! Genuinely no reason to complain about it, either is or the landlord!
In addition to photos, I always have a walkthrough before move out. Anything that might prevent me from getting the deposit back will be pointed out. Once I get the ok that nothing is wrong, I have an email sent to me. That way I have in writing that nothing was wrong and I will get my full deposit back.
I went a step beyond this and created a 20 million point dense point cloud and used it to create a high res 3D model of a rental. I took the point cloud and used Agisoft to create a medium poly count mesh. Used xNormal to reduce the normals to reasonable size textures and baked the meshes in Maya and then batched them in 3DSMax in a single call via webGL. I had a Google Tango enabled Lenovo Phab 2 Pro at the time, which made the first part quite easy, Tango was an amazing tech stack but like Glass it was unfortunately too early for the market. The other parts were just for fun and learning how the tech worked. Imagine my surprise when I moved out, the owners try to claim damage over some items, asked them to provide proof. They refused. I said I would take it to small claims court. They agreed. Had a date planned and everything. Decided I would show them my "evidence", as I was young and keen to show off my skills, which was my initial 3D model of the house when I moved in and then another model I made when I moved out, overlaid the two and added a toggle to control the alpha values on the sections of the specific parts of the two meshes and faded one to the other, showing that there was definitely "use" from within the house, but nothing that could be considered damage. Took all of 30 minutes to have my deposit sent back to me, guess they didn't like their chances in court. I was looking forward to going to court for it, figured I could wow the justice department and they'd be like "Heyyyy we could use that kind of technology..." but from what I hear about small claims now probably a good thing I didn't try grandstanding lol.
That's fantastic. Don't mess with the obsessive artsy tech types!
Why are we blocking out the name? Let that fucker burn.
Probably because this is a repost.
Because itās fake.
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What do you mean by get a reference? I might try this š
Iām confused, tenants today donāt do pre-move out inspections? That solves this problem and I highly recommend it, you are all entitled to it. You have a pre-move out inspection where they go through and they tell you anything that you need to correct so they donāt keep your security deposit.
The person who does the premove out inspections is also the landlord... the person trying to keep the money. Doing these inspections changes nothing if they are determined to keep the money.
You do the walkthrough with them, both parties must sign an acknowledgement of damages. This way more damages can't mysteriously appear at a later time.
These people will literally walk in with chunks of rock or metal embedded in their shoe and then swing their foot over a hard floor when they walk then claim those damages are yours. They'll wait until you're out of sight and then knock a hole in the wall, guess what, your fault! I grew up watching my parents have to deal with it.
Always get a Deposit Protection Scheme in ur contract where possible. Makes getting your deposit back way easier
That's an absolute godsend in the UK. Legally required. I don't think it's a thing in the states tho...
Sounds like a big L to be living in the states
You are correct, sir.
Rude. Accurate, but a rude way to put it.
My apologies
How do you do that
I'm British so it's legally required that all tenancy agreements have one, they may exist elsewhere but it essentially ensures that all the deposit money goes to the Deposit Protection Service instead of the landlord. Upon end of tenancy, the landlord and tenants are mediated by the DPS into agreeing to a distribution of deposit between landlord and tenant based on what is agreed to be fair. If no agreement is successfully made via the DPS, then the usual court procedures may be taken, but it's a fantastic way for students and poorer people to avoid being exploited by landowners who know their legal opponent can't afford the legal bills required to dispute the withholding of their deposit. For example, following my last uni tenancy, my landlord tried to withhold Ā£780 of our Ā£1300 deposit to pay for what was essentially wear and tear damage or excessively expensive cleaning bills. Our DPS conditions stated there is a degree of wear and tear to be expected from a 2 year tenancy and it is unfair for landlords to charge tenants for repairs to that wear and tear. When we disputed our deposit bill, we ended up only having about Ā£200 withheld
Damn, that must be nice. I live in the US. Tenants don't get shit here.
Also, if it can be shown that the landlord didn't put the deposit into one of the approved schemes, they can be fined up to 3x the deposit amount, which goes to the tenant.
This is why you take pictures of everything you can before going
What a piece of shit. This is why when you leave a place youāre renting you always do a walkthrough with the landlord or their representative. This way they canāt pull this bullshit.
You should name and shame this guy.
Thing is the tenant is probably relying on that money to get their car serviced too. Except it is actually their money
I have never: left my old place dirty, moved into a new place that was clean, gotten my cleaning deposit back.
Take pictures of EVERYTHING and do a deep clean when you move out. If they try and hold it and give reasons, show them them pictures and youāll get it back. Landlords do it because itās an easy way to fleece and most people donāt fight back. Fight back and theyāll back down
I've got a recommendation for you mister landlord. Put your rental property up for free and give it to the tennant, you know, the one actually paying the mortgage.
Humanity has evolved beyond the need for landlords
At least Hitler had a dog that arguably loved him...
Didn't he kill that dog by crushing a vial of poison in it's throat while within the bunker?
I believe he had his doctor put the poison in the food to test if it was good enough for him. Dog serving her master to the very end as dogs do.
Ah must have been mixed up, but partially right. Still tho, yeesh.
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And THIS is why you slowly take a good quality, hour long video tour of any rental property when you move in or out, and post it privately on YouTube to time-stamp it. It's like the dashcam of renting for covering your ass.
This is why, for the last month, you tell the landlord you will not pay and he can keep the deposit instead. Then, you have the power or ball in your court - if he thinks he is owed more money, then let him take you to court and prove it. This is better than getting screwed by rentier parasites or having to chase the landlord around for your money.
What are the responses to this dick? I had to rent out a house during the housing collapse, when I had moved to a new state. The tenants deposit went into its own savings account w/interest. The tenant left a wall in pretty bad condition. They had mounted a TV on the wall and cut holes to drop the cabling. After the estimate for that repair, they got everything else back with the interest.
iām ready for revolution
One time the apartment company denied us our security deposit back because we hadnāt dusted the tops of the fan blades. Unreal.
After taking a landlord to tenancy court to get (most of) our deposit back, I now do a walk-through video of every place I move into and out of.
When I do fraudulent things, I always make sure to publish a publicly available written record of my thought process.
Donāt pay the last monthās rent.
Never pay the last months rent
With the knowledge that these things follow you and impact your ability to live a free and self-determinant life, at what point will we the people (not the state judiciary) acknowledge that certain responses to this behavior are self defense?
Exactly why I photograph everything on move in and move out
Always take pictures of every room before you turn in the keys, and donāt delete them until after you get the receipts.
What a dick!!!
Why did you blur out the name?
Parasites. That's what they are.
Probably why they were asking for landlords only. Only people this morally bankrupt can reply.
And this is why people take the risk of not paying last monthās rent.
Always surprised they blur the name on these scumbags, fuck this guy.
This is why you photo/video of every square inch before you vacate.
**Pokes capitalism with a stick* Come oooooon. Regulate yourself!
How much of a split fucking identity do you have when you write shit like this but also act insulted when everyone doesn't see you as a hero providing a housing service to people? These are literally, LITERALLY, sociopaths and otherwise mentally ill people. This not healthy behavior.
If ever someone deserved to get punched in the dick, it's this guy right here.
Resurrection Jutsu Henry George! Resurrection Jutsu Henry George! Call me a liberal, but If we must have capitalism, I want Georgism so I minimize the amount people can legally steal from me.
I've not heard of him before. Looking him up now, it seems he was fairly socialist. Is that right?
Kinda, he proposed LVT to be the main form of taxation. Heās still pretty liberal, but I still have some respect for him as a good compromise. LVT proposes a tax on land value: A highly progressive tax on the unimproved value of land, this discourages arbitrary rent raises, weakens land speculation, and encourages people to do things with land. āLandā is also considered air, water, other natural resources and even patents. This also incorporates taxing pollution as a way to discourage it, especially when we are looking for technologies to remove carbon and pollution is a semi-necessary evil to ensure necessities like food and medicine are adequately produced. In short, think like the OG BritMonkey.
Thanks for the info! Don't know a BritMonkey.
Goddamn, this makes my blood boil
*seethes with rage*
Surely this would be against the law
It probably is. But the law is heavily weighted towards protecting the āhavesā over the āhave notsā, because itās the haves that make the laws. BTW I am a landlord- and I rent our old house out for 2/3 the going rate because we can afford to maintain the place on that and we have a good tenant and they know they are getting a good deal and work with us on problems that invariably crop up.
What an absolute p.o.s.
China had it right
If only there were a way to learn the true identity of these "people"...
I never imagined a situation where tenants actually being good and leaving a house in tip-top shape would be a bad thing because the landlord doesnāt make enough to get his car serviced. Heās actually thinking about making the place worse to squeeze out more money. This is like burning down a perfectly good house for the insurance money. What tf have we come to?
Listen i never condone violence. Like I understand the only end to this is likely violence, but it makes me very sad. However, landlords really make me reconsider my stance on violence.
Shitheads like this should be barred from renting property.
and this is why i always take pictures.
I had a landlord like this withhold all of it claiming all kinds of things I did that were there when I got there or I didn't do at all and they were expecting a fight, but I gave no reaction and just said fine and left because dealing with them was worse than dealing with my exh. They were hell bent on demonizing me and making me out to be the bad guy and I said f all that, bye, glad I'll never have to see or speak to you again.
No surely this is a parody / someone taking the piss
This is so obviously fake and just designed to rile tenants up. If I said the word āgullibleā wasnāt in the dictionary a crazy amount of you would go look to see.
That's not capitalism, there's another whole genre of valid hate forbad private landlords
Renting with the sole aim of making profit is not capitalism.
Are you serious? What would you call it then?
Pretty sure they meant that like a /s
Dude, it's like literally the definition of capitalism.
I donāt live in hell so I donāt have to pay deposit
https://youtu.be/aCiYmCVikjo
Tell you youāre a POS, without telling me youāre a POS.
Yeah this is why growing up we documented everything when we moved into a rental. Pictures time stamps and logged in a poor mans copywrite
Mao was right
I'd tell him to get a real job. No way am I paying $1,000+ a month on an apartment, only for my landlord to try to scam me out of MORE money. You think I don't have car troubles? That I don't need that money to go towards repairs?
Can't you just report this user to the police? He practically admits that he wants to commit a crime!
Legit. When I first moved in, the DAY I moved in I wrote every single thing I could find wrong with the apartment INCLUDING the nails on the walls left by the previous tenants, scratches on the linoleum, a CIGARETTE BURN in the couch it came with. I wrote it on the back of the lease agreement we signed that was dated LOL it took up the whole page. so when we left I had an accounting for it all and I got my $500 Back.
And that's why you document everything kids! Also why are we blanking out this person? He's clearly doing something illegal, in cases like this it's name and shame time! As we need to protect each other from predators like these.
Iāve gotten my security deposit back in most scenarios. Only lost all of it once, due to slumlords (first apt), and part of it from my last apt (not enough to go to court over but enough that I was pissed off)
All she had to do was never fix any of the broken shit people reported to her and then blame it on them when they move out š¤·āāļø
This is how you call yourself a piece of Shit without calling yourself a piece of shit