All Forum Posts by: Roger Mathew

Vicram,
I am buying a place in India.
Jon,
I am living up to my obligation to pay the rent up to my lease and leaving the place in good condition 14 days early. You landlords are control freaks and want to control every aspect of the deal. That's why I will not pay. America needs people like me so you guys can't control everything. I wish more people skip on last moths rent to teach some of these idiots a lesson. I have enough to buy a new house in the states too so it does not matter. :)
Admin,
Please close this useless thread. It is only for landlords who want to use this website to share different ways to screw their tenants.

I guess all the rules are stacked against me. Now, I am forced to do what I didn't want to do. I will probably not pay the rent on the 1st. I will leave the place on 15th clean and take pictures. I know for a fact that there are no repairs to be made so the deposit should cover him. He has sufficient notice so I hope he can rent the place on October 1st. If he wants to proceed and spend his money on suing a person who is not here then it is his choice. I sold my house last year so even if I come back in few years I am buying a house.
I tried to do something that would have worked for both of us but game is not fair. Some people are selfish and they only think about themselves. Now he gets nothing.
Thanks to all of you for your advice.
Take care...

It seems like you all are landlaords and seeing things from their perspective. :)
Jon
You said "Because the security deposit is to ensure you leave the property in good condition. If I let you use that money for the last month's rent, and you do leave any damage, even if minor, I have no way to recover the expenses to fix it. Some amount of damage is inevitable, even if you work hard to restore the place to the same condition as you found it when you moved in. "
For this the reason I offered my landlord, rent for the last month but asked if he could do a walk through on the day I am leaving. If all looks ok to him then he can give me my deposit back. I would also present my paid bills paid until the end of the month so he is not stuck with anything after I leave.
Now what is wrong with that? How is he getting hurt? He still refuses. This is after I paid him rent on time each month and took care of his property like it was my own.

"If I was your landlord I would NEVER let you apply your deposit to the last month. Send him the rent on 8/1 and 9/1. End of story on that piece."
Why not? If you are getting your place back the way you rented to me and I technically paid rent for 13 months then why NOT. Unless you are planning to swindle my deposit.

Thanks for your response. I am going to get an attorney to look at all this. I don't trust these landlords. My company pays for the legal aid so why not use it. I am going to have him deal directly with them. You make it seem like lease is a word of God and it can't be modified. I will make sure my attorney checks out everything to make sure landlord did not violate any lease agreements either such as depositing my security deposit in a separate account. Also, what if I just leave and not do anything? What is he going to do? evict me? Not going to have enough time from 5 - 18. :)
In any case, thanks.

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and would like to say Hi!
I also have a question. I rented this town house in Chicago for 13 months. My job is transferring me to India permanently in September. My lease is also up in September. We paid rent every month diligently and had good relations with our landlord.
Here is the problem. I have to report to my new job on September 18 and my lease is good until September 30.
I asked my landlord following two questions.
1. Can I use my deposit as last months rent? This is because I am moving out of the country and do not have a forwarding address. Also, do not have a bank account local where my deposit can be sent. He said, No.
2. I asked if he could do a walk through on 17 or 18 before I leave so he can be sure that the house is in order. I also offered to present all utility bills paid up to September 30 so he will not have any issues. He said he will not walk through until end of September and refuses to take possession on September 18.
I would not be asking this unless I had to leave the country but this guy is not willing to work with us. Am I being unreasonable?
What is my best course of action? If I just leave and don't pay September rent he can sue me in my absence. If I pay him the rent there is no guarantee he will give me my security deposit back. Even if he does send me a check to India I can not cash it.
Please advice. I would greatly appreciate it.
BTW, I don't have anyone here to do this on my behalf and deal with this guy.
Best regards,