My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Texas
This is a multi-question post just so I can get a better grasp about where I stand, and to just be prepared "just in case". My wife and I just moved out of a home we leased for 18 months. The landlord very nit-picky and money hungry, so I'm playing out scenarios in my head of what could happen. To give background, after 12 months they offered only a 6-month renewal and said they would not renew further than that because they wanted to move back into home themselves. No problem, we signed the lease and started our search for a new home.
Landlord said that if we found somewhere before the end of lease that it would be okay (all conversations have been over text, and kept). We found a home to move into 1 month prior to the end of our lease, in essence we did not pay for the last month of the lease because he told us it would be okay to move early if we found something. So question 1 - if he decided to try to collect that last month's rent via small claims court, would he be able to? Would his text override the original contract/lease with new terms and therefore make the terms in original lease null and void?
Secondly, when we were moving, we had a considerable amount of expenses and I asked the landlord if he would consider allowing our security deposit to cover our last rent payment. He agreed to release $700 of the $1200 deposit towards rent, and we paid the remaining $650 for that month to cover the rest of that month's rent. This would leave $500 in our security deposit that would be released after final walk through. So question 2 - could he later request that extra $700 back via small claims court - or would his agreement to reduce our rent to $650 for that month make his request void?
While we were moving out I stayed in contact with him asking what he would like done prior to the walk through to make sure we could get the final $500 back. I asked what we should really focus on aside from just basic cleaning. He requested we trim the trees in the yard, haul off those limbs, make sure the yard is landscaped .. I thought it was weird that he'd be asking us to trim the trees, but figured no problem, and we hired professional landscapers to make sure it would be done properly for him - then had to pay extra to trim trees, and extra to haul them off. We paid nearly $200 for all that. He then told us he wanted us to get the carpets professionally deep cleaned and shampooed - he told us the local carpet cleaning company charged $160. Again, I was thinking he was asking a lot - previous properties I've rented were satisfied with cleaned/vacuumed carpets, but he wanted us to deep clean and shampoo them, and spend $160 to do it. Because of how nit-picky he is, we also go a quote from a professional cleaning company to meticulously clean the entire home, they quoted us $150. So, all of this expense would total out to $510 invested in hopes of getting back $500 ... It just didn't make sense to me. So, I decided to forfeit the $500 deposit and turn over the house as-is. The landscaping had already been done, we just did not do the deep cleaning. We told the landlord he could use the $500 remaining deposit to deep clean the way he wanted to - knowing that $500 was more than enough to get that alone done.
Here are a lot of questions - we turned the home over via text on Aug 16, and left the keys on the bar of the kitchen and locked the door behind us as we left. Does this constitute as the date we have turned over the home legally? If so, does he have 30-days from that date to send us an itemized breakdown of expenses IF he tries to claim that he spent more than $500 and wants to collect more? If once the 30-day mark comes and goes without hearing from him, can we assume we are in the clear of owing any additional funds? If he sends an itemized bill after the 30-day mark, can we legally state that he didn't get it to us in time and therefore he can't collect? ... Now, if he decides to take all this to small claims court instead, would it be enforced and a judgement made against us, or can we use that 30-day limit as a defense?
We did not leave damage, or excessive filth or anything like that. I just know how nit-picky he is, and he's made comments in the past about being retired with a lot of time on his hands so he doesn't mind taking things to court. I'm just trying to get ahead of the curve and know my options before the hypothetical becomes a reality.
This is a multi-question post just so I can get a better grasp about where I stand, and to just be prepared "just in case". My wife and I just moved out of a home we leased for 18 months. The landlord very nit-picky and money hungry, so I'm playing out scenarios in my head of what could happen. To give background, after 12 months they offered only a 6-month renewal and said they would not renew further than that because they wanted to move back into home themselves. No problem, we signed the lease and started our search for a new home.
Landlord said that if we found somewhere before the end of lease that it would be okay (all conversations have been over text, and kept). We found a home to move into 1 month prior to the end of our lease, in essence we did not pay for the last month of the lease because he told us it would be okay to move early if we found something. So question 1 - if he decided to try to collect that last month's rent via small claims court, would he be able to? Would his text override the original contract/lease with new terms and therefore make the terms in original lease null and void?
Secondly, when we were moving, we had a considerable amount of expenses and I asked the landlord if he would consider allowing our security deposit to cover our last rent payment. He agreed to release $700 of the $1200 deposit towards rent, and we paid the remaining $650 for that month to cover the rest of that month's rent. This would leave $500 in our security deposit that would be released after final walk through. So question 2 - could he later request that extra $700 back via small claims court - or would his agreement to reduce our rent to $650 for that month make his request void?
While we were moving out I stayed in contact with him asking what he would like done prior to the walk through to make sure we could get the final $500 back. I asked what we should really focus on aside from just basic cleaning. He requested we trim the trees in the yard, haul off those limbs, make sure the yard is landscaped .. I thought it was weird that he'd be asking us to trim the trees, but figured no problem, and we hired professional landscapers to make sure it would be done properly for him - then had to pay extra to trim trees, and extra to haul them off. We paid nearly $200 for all that. He then told us he wanted us to get the carpets professionally deep cleaned and shampooed - he told us the local carpet cleaning company charged $160. Again, I was thinking he was asking a lot - previous properties I've rented were satisfied with cleaned/vacuumed carpets, but he wanted us to deep clean and shampoo them, and spend $160 to do it. Because of how nit-picky he is, we also go a quote from a professional cleaning company to meticulously clean the entire home, they quoted us $150. So, all of this expense would total out to $510 invested in hopes of getting back $500 ... It just didn't make sense to me. So, I decided to forfeit the $500 deposit and turn over the house as-is. The landscaping had already been done, we just did not do the deep cleaning. We told the landlord he could use the $500 remaining deposit to deep clean the way he wanted to - knowing that $500 was more than enough to get that alone done.
Here are a lot of questions - we turned the home over via text on Aug 16, and left the keys on the bar of the kitchen and locked the door behind us as we left. Does this constitute as the date we have turned over the home legally? If so, does he have 30-days from that date to send us an itemized breakdown of expenses IF he tries to claim that he spent more than $500 and wants to collect more? If once the 30-day mark comes and goes without hearing from him, can we assume we are in the clear of owing any additional funds? If he sends an itemized bill after the 30-day mark, can we legally state that he didn't get it to us in time and therefore he can't collect? ... Now, if he decides to take all this to small claims court instead, would it be enforced and a judgement made against us, or can we use that 30-day limit as a defense?
We did not leave damage, or excessive filth or anything like that. I just know how nit-picky he is, and he's made comments in the past about being retired with a lot of time on his hands so he doesn't mind taking things to court. I'm just trying to get ahead of the curve and know my options before the hypothetical becomes a reality.
Cleaning and Repairs: Lots of Questions Regarding Previous Landlord
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