State Specific Question About: NORTH CAROLINA (NC)

I moved in 07/01/14. I sign a 1 year lease. I moved out on 03/20/14 and gave my 30 day notice on 04/01/14 with Aprils full rent.

When I explain to my landlord that the kids mom was leaving the state and I was going to have my two kids full time and I couldn't longer afford the rent, he said: "you can only break the lease if you find a new tenant" which I did. I posted in add on facebook and we got the house rented before the end of April. The move in date for the new tenant is 05/01/14. When I asked the landlord for my security deposit of $650.00 he said "NO" you won't get it, you broke your lease.

Hello Tenant:

Let's get a few things straight to be sure we're all on the same page:

1) This is a land lord site, which should be obvious since the name is Mr. Landlord. Your best bet to get good advice (and probably more sympathy) is on a tenant site.

2) Breaking a lease is the same as breaking your word, and moreover there are specific legal obligations to a lease as it is also a signed contract. I say this because you tried to make an excuse of why you should be justified in breaking the lease based on a change in your PERSONAL situation. The fact that your wife left you with less income and two kids is IRRELEVANT to you fulfilling your contract with your land lord. Any situation where you land lord allows you out is an act of GRACE on his part and you have no right to demand anything or act otherwise than humble in your dealings with him or her. I say this because I detected a note of somehow thinking that the land lord should "work with you" and you "never caused any problems"...again, irrelevant to performance of a contract.

3) Any deal you had with your land lord regarding finding another tenant was made verbally. Any time you makes changes to a written contract, it needs to be done in writing. My attorney is fond of saying, "if it isn't in writing, it never happened." If you try to go to court and use this as an argument, it will be your word against the land lord's unless your land lord is a goofball and admits he/she DID give you verbal permission to do this.

4) Unless your friends are licensed real estate attorneys in your state, stop taking advice from them. In spite of their best intentions, they don't know what they are saying and could end up costing you a lot of money, stress, and hassle. Thank them for their concern, and ignore them...seriously.

5) Rudeness is irrelevant except as it pertains to your willingness to fight this.

6) This is kind of a P.S. but I am guessing you meant to say you moved in in 2013 (not 07/01/14). Details like that will be important if you do choose to go to court: proofreading and accuracy will impress a judge. Typos like that will not.

Now that we're all on board, what would I do in your shoes? Unless $650 is a sizeable chunk of change in your world, I would let it go. It will take a considerable amount of time and money to hire an attorney to represent you in this case, and I wouldn't recommend going after a land lord in court unless your evidence is ROCK SOLID. I would not bother with it unless you have ALL of the following:

a) move-in inspection checklist, signed and dated with your and land lord's signature

b) copy of your written lease with the date it began and was supposed to end and which describes (or fails to describe) what happens if the lease is terminated early

c) some kind of written documentation that discusses the deal you made with your land lord to find a substitute tenant

d) move-out inspection checklist, signed and dated and with your land lord's signature

If you are missing even ONE of those documents, your case is very weak and you might get nothing at all for the time and $$$ spent doing to court. A very sympathetic judge "might" rule in your favor, but I doubt you'd get the entire amount considering the circumstances.

I agree with most of what Sid said... I offer additional advice of read your lease carefully and see if you agreed to waive your rights to the return of the SD when you broke the lease(some type of wording related to Early Lease Termination). You mitigated any loss of rent by finding him a new tenant he agreed with in a timely fashion so without that wording, he can't hold the SD for that reason.

Look up your states rules on Security deposits and read it thoroughly. If your previous landlord did not follow them implicitly then go after him for your security deposit.

Both tenants and landlords are subject to the federal and state laws as well as city ordinances and we must follow them.

I'm going to differ with Sid on one point. Admittedly this is a LANDLORD site and we probably don't want a bunch of tenant traffic on here and frequently not much sympathy is shown to tenants who post here. However, you supplied the OP with something they really need more than sympathy which is accurate information, something they are much more likely to get here than a on tenant site. Just sayin...

Just keeping a security deposit is often not allowed. But, some places will allow it when the tenant breaks the lease. Your only option to fight the landlord's decision to keep the deposit is to file a claim in court. You will have to decide if you think your evidence is strong enough and whether it is worth your time and filing fees to chase your $650.

Sid, he doesn't know what year it is so how is he going to understand anything you said?

Mr. Tenant, call the legal aid society in your town and get some advice. Or look in the yellow pages of the phone book at lawyers who do landlord tenant law. If they smell big money they might take your case for free.

AllyM: You are always accusing me of being rude, but here you are doing it to someone else. Clearly, the person simply made a typo on the year. Sid was nice about this. Why do you have to basically imply that they are stupid by not knowing what year it was. It was a typo! Sheesh!

- John...

The vast majority of the people who frequent this forum are landlords who want to abide by the rules, treat everyone equally, and provide fairly priced and well-maintained rentals. It makes us all look bad when a landlord behaves as this one has.

But I agree with Sid - if you don't have it all in writing, you are probably without recourse. The lease terms that you quoted pretty much convinced me of that - UNLESS that kind of Security Deposit clause is not legal in your state.

Here in PA, the individual counties have Consumer Protection offices, and they are familiar with Landlord/Tenant rules. Perhaps you could find one by checking the state's website for Landlord/Tenant, then looking for local offices. Ours do not charge for anything - and will often contact the landlord on your behalf, to notify them of anything they've violated, and see if they can get some sort of concession out of the individual. They also let that individual know that they have started a file on him/his business, which often pries something loose.

It's worth a try - hope you find a way to get some of this back, and with the least amount of expense and hassle.

Again, read the law North Carolina General Statutes §§ 42-50 to 42-56 related to Security Deposits. A Landlord is permitted only certain uses of the security deposit - his language to forfeit the SD if the term was not completed in this case may be invalid. The term was completed by proxy(new tenant) and 42-51(a)(3)states "Damages as the result of the nonfulfillment of the rental period,"

The question you (should) have in your head now is "what damages did he incur have when I left?"

Thank you so much! I found this at Article 6.

Tenant Security Deposit Act.

§ 42-51. Permitted uses of the deposit.

(a) Security deposits for residential dwelling units shall be permitted only for the following:

(1) The tenant's possible nonpayment of rent and costs for water or sewer services provided pursuant to G.S. 62-110(g) and electric service pursuant to G.S. 62-110(h).

(2) Damage to the premises, including damage to or destruction of smoke alarms or carbon monoxide alarms.

(3) Damages as the result of the nonfulfillment of the rental period, except where the tenant terminated the rental agreement under G.S. 42-45, G.S. 42-45.1, or because the tenant was forced to leave the property because of the landlord's violation of Article 2A of Chapter 42 of the General Statutes or was constructively evicted by the landlord's violation of G.S. 42-42(a).

(4) Any unpaid bills that become a lien against the demised property due to the tenant's occupancy.

(5) The costs of re-renting the premises after breach by the tenant, including any reasonable fees or commissions paid by the landlord to a licensed real estate broker to re-rent the premises.

(6) The costs of removal and storage of the tenant's property after a summary ejectment proceeding.

(7) Court costs.

Tenant/NC. Your landlord may NOT keep your deposit because you left early IF he did not incur actual monetary damages. A deposit is not income to the landlord, it is ONLY to cover financial damages caused by you.

IF he accepted your new tenant, and he did not lose any more rent as a result of your early move, and you did not cause damages that required repairs for which he had to pay, he has violated NC LL/Tenant law and technically, you could go after him for 3x the deposit.

Within 30 days of your moving out he needs to send a complete accounting of how the deposit was used. If he cannot prove damages, he has violated the law.

I'm sorry but I am so careful of my deposits that it really ticks me off to hear someone try to pull a fast one. IF indeed this is the case.