All Forum Posts by: Dale Walker

Idaho does not have a statute of what happens if the landlord doesn't return the deposit or send a letter within 21 days.  The judge would be sympathetic though and may give it back to you to teach the landlord a lesson but it is not a statute which I am aware of. 

@Mikaela Cekalski

Hey Mikaela, I am sorry you have to go through this. I am very familiar with Idaho landlord/tenant law (I am not a lawyer and not giving legal advice). It is common in Idaho leases to have the tenant pay for carpet cleaning as part of the lease. If the tenants don't pay for it and leave a receipt, the lease often states that it will be taken out of the deposit. As to the toilet seat and air filter, that really is normal wear and tear unless you have severely damaged the seat. Cleaning the apartment may be taken out of the deposit as well. I don't appreciate having to clean my tenants frig or stove. My leases state exactly what I will charge them if they don't clean up. When you turn in the keys, the apartment is surrendered to the Landlord and you don't have the right to enter without permission. I recommend you video the apartment after you are done cleaning and have all your stuff moved out. 

If you feel that you are not getting the correct amount of deposit back, you can take her to court. The landlord has 21 days to send you a itemized damage list and the remaining deposit. Some leases can extend the 21 days to 30 days but Idaho will not permit beyond 30 days.  Idaho is fairly Landlord friendly. If you want to take her to court, you will need to show how the place looked when you moved in. Show pictures of the extra stuff in the basement and how the place was cleaned when you moved in. Then you can show the judge how it looked when you moved out. Compare the stuff left and the cleanliness of the apartment. Unless stated in the lease, landlords cannot charge for their time to clean and repair the apartment. They can if they hire someone to do it though. If your landlord has not sent you an explanation within the 30 days, you will have some leverage to take her to court and the judge may be more sympathetic. 

You can find the owners/landlords name by checking with the county assessors office or county clerk. It is public information to see who owns the property and their address. You may need to go down to the county clerks office to look it up. Alot of Idaho's systems are not online.  Hope this helps. 

@Lee Rimmer

The lesson is only put a deposit down if you intend to rent the property. When you are approved and then back out, the deposit is lost for the holding of the property, even if it wasn't taken off the market.  Deposits are refundable if don't get approved. Personally, I would not give a deposit until I was approved and guaranteed the unit. If a company said it was mandatory to put an application fee and deposit, I would laugh and move on. Why would I put a deposit on something that they are not offering me yet? Get approved, then put the deposit down. Realize if after you are approved and put a deposit down, if you back out you lose the deposit.  Don't put a deposit down until you know you are committed. 

I recommend that you contact the sheriff office and ask for them to bring out their drug dogs to survey the property. Given some already have been found, I suspect they would oblige. Let them do both inside and out of the house and throughout all the property.

Years ago a big windstorm broke off a limb on a tree located on the property next to mine. The giant limb blew onto my property and onto the tenants car windshield. The tenant came to me and wanted me to pay for her windshield. I told her that it wasn't my tree and she should go through her insurance for her car. She didn't have insurance to cover her car only liability. I told her to check with the next door property owner but I told her excessive wind is likely an "act of God" and it would be unlikely that they would cover it. I had to tell her "This is a great reason to have insurance which covers your apartment and car." Tenants often feel that the landlord is at fault when an unpredictable event occurs. I recommend you tell your tenant the same thing, get proper insurance. Also let your insurance do the work if she pursues it. As for your PM, let them pursue criminal charges and eviction if they are successful in a criminal case.

When a tenant has decided they are not going to pay. They wont. Best to evict as quickly as possible and not put up with excuses. I have found that people who easily make excuses and don't feel bad about it will not pay you. Best not to waste your time on them.

@John Anderson

I have used https://www.rentrecoveryservice.com/. They file the claim with the bureaus. It doesn't cost me more than just a stamp. I don't care if the tenants are mad. They are the ones being dishonest and I am the one taking the loss. If the tenant decides to sue me for reporting their damages/loss of rent, I would be glad to counter sue and get a judgement. I suspect the legal doctrine of "clean  hands" might be mentioned to the judge in my counter complaint. The lease I use gives me the ability to file and report them. Generally the tenant moves out and doesn't let me know where they are going. If they sue me, I will know exactly where they are and be able to make a claim against them. I am not breaking any laws by reporting them. Rather I am helping other landlords to avoid a deadbeat. 

I wonder if there is an issue with the building such as no heat, water, power etc. That might trigger a bunch of tenants who don't feel like they want to pay rent or just move out.  Go over and see what is going on. If everything is ok, then proceed with the eviction process. Sometimes when it rains, its pours. I have been a landlord for over 10 years now. Only had 2 evictions. Both in the same month last year.  Sometimes it just happens that way.  Find a PM who is strict and can teach the tenants proper behavior. 

Tell them it is illegal to use the deposit as rent. I would give them their 3 day notice and tell them their deposits will cover the eviction costs. Remind them that they would still owe for damages and missing rent which I would report to the credit bureaus to damage their credit.  A reasonable concern of eviction on their record and damaged credit might move them to pay the rent and move out. 

Allison,

You need to now show the apartment to get another renter. Once you have possession back of the property and the lease breakers are gone, try to get the place rerented. Once rerented, you can assess the damages the lease breakers did, calculate the loss of rent which the lease breakers didn't pay and then apply the security deposit. If they still owe you money, then you can take them to court or send it to collections. In my lease, I have an early termination clause which says they forfeit their security deposit and owe me a rerental fee. You can't just wait until the lease is up and hope to collect from them.