Tenant Moved Out With No Notice – Can Landlord Keep The Deposit?
Question
NY state law requires at least a 30 day notice to terminate by tenant. My tenant moved with no notice. Can I Keep the Deposit?
Answer
Whether you can “keep the deposit” may depend on the details of the matter. In general, in most circumstances the landlord can keep amounts from the security deposit to cover unpaid rents, damages to the property, and additional expenses incurred from breaking the lease agreement. Since you mention the lack of a 30-day notice from the tenant, I assume that the tenant was on a month-to-month lease. Accordingly, if the tenant was otherwise current with payment of rent, the maximum lost rent would be 30 days’ worth from the date of breaking the lease. That is, if the tenant left within the month that had already been previously paid for, the unpaid rent would be less than the monthly rent amount. If you had a deposit equal to the monthly rent, you could apply any remainder to physical damages, not including normal wear and tear.
Most states, including NY, have abandoned property laws. Laws regarding tenant property left behind vary significantly among states and for many states improper handling of tenant property can be costly for the landlord. Requirements vary from none at all to the need to securely store the property, publish notice of its future sale date, and return to the tenant any excess realized from the sale, with even more complicated procedures in some jurisdictions.
Financial and physical damages that exceed the amount of security deposit are theoretically recoverable through a lawsuit if you can find where the tenant is currently located so that he/she can be served with a complaint and can obtain a judgment in the court of jurisdiction.
As with many matters related to tenants, landlords must also adhere to any more stringent requirements under county and municipal ordinances, including those in rent control jurisdictions.
Question
What is PALS (prior address locator service)?
Answer
Tenant screening should include some information reqarding renter history of applicants rather than only credit history, eviction history or criminal background history. It can also include previous address history information as well.
In the past, a landlord had to check renter history addresses by calling previous landlords as listed by the applicant. This was not only time-consuming, but was often unreliable when applicants provided phone numbers of friends as references. Now there is PALS (Prior Address Locator Service), which can confirm previous addresses and providea a way to directly find previous landlords for those addresses via official public records.
Youcheckcredit.com provide PALS either as part of special packages or as an individual report.
Question
In the State of Ohio, is a landlord required to
pay interest on a security deposit to a tenant that has left the home?
Answer
You do not state if the tenant left at termination of the lease period, without a required notice, or by breaking the lease agreement, issues that may or may not have implications for your case.
It is my understanding that Ohio law regarding interest on security deposits is as follows: A security deposit in excess of $50 or one month’s rent, whichever is greater, must bear interest on the excess at the rate of 5% per annum if the tenant remains for a period of 6 months or more. The interest must be paid at least annually as well as upon termination.
I’ll also mention that Ohio requires a landlord to provide an itemized accounting of deductions from the security deposit and to return the remaining amount within 30 days.