My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Indiana
I terminated my lease on Oct. 17th. It was a year lease. When I first rented from Property Management Company, I was in another unit. I had a totally different lease. A month later I was moved into another unit and was required to sign a new lease. My security deposit was transferred to new unit. In the valid, current lease, there were major clerical errors such as lease terms (in lease stated 10/19/2013 to 10/19/2014 and rent in the amount of $240) all of which is incorrect. 1. In Indiana, the landlord is required to send an itemization/security deposit within 45 days after providing forwarding address which I did. It is now Jan. 14th and I never received anything. 2. They have sue me in small claims court, and the first page of the lease they attached has been forged. They went in and corrected lease dates, rent amount, and wrote my son's name in the occupancy space, and my initials and the property managers initials at the bottom of the page is now missing!!!! They also modified the second page of the lease. I have a copy of the lease.
I hired an attorney and we filed a counterclaim 1. for return of security deposit per Indiana Code 32-31-3-12and 2. for counterfeiting and fraud IC-35-43-5-2. We met with the Plaintiff's attorney today for a "pre-trial" conference. We attempted to mitigate damages and walk away with a wash for both sides; however, the Landlord's attorney stated the Indiana Code regarding 45-day notice for security deposit only applies to damages and since there were no damages to the property, they were no obligated to send a 45-day letter and he stated there is "plenty of case law" to support it. I have found law reviews and other case law stating the Landlord was still obligated to provide a 45-day notice to the tenant for how the deposit was applied (written itemization) even for unpaid rent. Additionally, the valid lease it states, "The determination of expenses or other charges, such as damages, missing property, cleaning costs, unpaid rent, and unreturned keys shall be itemized in a written notice delivered to Tenant within 45-day period. Said 45-day period shall not begin, however, until Tenant supplies to Landlord in writing a forwarding mailing address.". My attorney works in the area of law (from the Landlord's end) and he said he never heard of this before. He said he was going to search case law. Anyone hear of this?
I terminated my lease on Oct. 17th. It was a year lease. When I first rented from Property Management Company, I was in another unit. I had a totally different lease. A month later I was moved into another unit and was required to sign a new lease. My security deposit was transferred to new unit. In the valid, current lease, there were major clerical errors such as lease terms (in lease stated 10/19/2013 to 10/19/2014 and rent in the amount of $240) all of which is incorrect. 1. In Indiana, the landlord is required to send an itemization/security deposit within 45 days after providing forwarding address which I did. It is now Jan. 14th and I never received anything. 2. They have sue me in small claims court, and the first page of the lease they attached has been forged. They went in and corrected lease dates, rent amount, and wrote my son's name in the occupancy space, and my initials and the property managers initials at the bottom of the page is now missing!!!! They also modified the second page of the lease. I have a copy of the lease.
I hired an attorney and we filed a counterclaim 1. for return of security deposit per Indiana Code 32-31-3-12and 2. for counterfeiting and fraud IC-35-43-5-2. We met with the Plaintiff's attorney today for a "pre-trial" conference. We attempted to mitigate damages and walk away with a wash for both sides; however, the Landlord's attorney stated the Indiana Code regarding 45-day notice for security deposit only applies to damages and since there were no damages to the property, they were no obligated to send a 45-day letter and he stated there is "plenty of case law" to support it. I have found law reviews and other case law stating the Landlord was still obligated to provide a 45-day notice to the tenant for how the deposit was applied (written itemization) even for unpaid rent. Additionally, the valid lease it states, "The determination of expenses or other charges, such as damages, missing property, cleaning costs, unpaid rent, and unreturned keys shall be itemized in a written notice delivered to Tenant within 45-day period. Said 45-day period shall not begin, however, until Tenant supplies to Landlord in writing a forwarding mailing address.". My attorney works in the area of law (from the Landlord's end) and he said he never heard of this before. He said he was going to search case law. Anyone hear of this?
Security Deposits: 45-Day Security Deposit Witholding/Suit
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