Hi all,
I have my sole rental property in North Carolina. The current tenants' lease is coming to an end, after a year of me having to call them almost monthly to ask them to remove debris from the yard, and mow the lawn. Suffice to say, they haven't been model tenants and we do not have a cordial relationship.
I recently sent them an email and letter reiterating their obligations from the lease, specifically calling their attention to the move out cleaning checklist. A couple days after receiving the letter, one of the tenants sent me an email stating that they had no intention of following the checklist, and that in fact, they had been doing some research into NC law around security deposits, and they claim that because of a technicality, I'm not entitled to withhold any security deposit.
The technicality they pointed to is that according to NC General Statute 42-50, the landlord is required to provide the name and address of the financial institution where the security deposit is being held, within 30 days of receipt of the deposit. (The landlord or the landlord's agent shall notify the tenant within 30 days after the beginning of the lease term of the name and address
of the bank or institution where the tenant's deposit is currently located or the name of the insurance
company providing the bond)
In the lease, I provided the name and city of the bank (NCSEU in Cary, NC), but did not provide the actual address. Now my tenant is claiming that since I didn't provide the full address, that they actually have grounds to sue me! pointing to NC 42-55, which in part states: The willful failure of a landlord to comply with the deposit, bond, or notice requirements of this Article shall void the landlord's right to retain any portion of the tenant's security deposit as otherwise permitted under G.S. 42-51. In addition to other remedies at law and equity, the tenant may recover damages resulting from noncompliance by the landlord; and upon a finding by the court that the party
against whom judgment is rendered was in willful noncompliance with this Article, such willful
noncompliance is against the public policy of this State and the court may award attorney's fees to
be taxed as part of the costs of court.
I know I should probably talk to an attorney, but that's going to cost me a pretty penny. These are only the second tenants I've had (the first were great), and I'm afraid that they're going to leave the place trashed, and I'm going to have to pay a cleaning service, and won't be able to withhold that from the security deposit, simply because I didn't provide the full physical address of the bank.
Could they really get away this, simply because I didn't provide a street address? Please someone put my mind at ease.
Thanks in advance,
Grayson
