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Landlords & Tenants, Part 3

This free email newsletter provides free legal information you can use in your own life. It is written by the attorneys at Andrews, Bongar, Starkey & Clagett, a full service law firm. Visit our website, SouthernMarylandLaw.com, for free legal information on topics like bankruptcy, personal injury, workers’ compensation, family law, criminal law, and a lot more. If you have a legal issue and need an attorney, feel free to contact us. You may call us anytime toll free from anywhere in Maryland, at 1-888-SMD-LAW1 (763-5291).

Disclaimer: This is general information about Maryland law. It is not legal advice, and there is no attorney-client relationship until you meet with an attorney and sign a retainer. Effective legal advice depends on understanding the unique facts of your situation. If you have a legal question, get advice from a lawyer before proceeding. That is the best advice we can ever give you.

This month, we will conclude the series on landlords & tenants by discussing legal issues that usually occur at the end of the lease. This is where you can really get in trouble, and where most litigation occurs between landlords & tenants.

Inspections Generally: A landlord has the right to inspect a property at reasonable times and with reasonable notice. The word “reasonable” is the lawyer’s favorite word because we can argue all day long about what is and is not “reasonable.” You should err on the side of being reasonable about inspections to avoid giving the other party the ability to argue that you are not reasonable.

Most landlords do not want to visit the property very often, but they have the right every few months or so. Ideally, the two sides should talk about it and the tenant should be home when it happens. This is not legally required, but will go a long way towards reducing disputes.

Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Landlords, if someone just popped in and started prowling around your house one day without your knowledge or while you were at work, you would probably be pretty upset. It tends to make enemies out of tenants who would otherwise be on friendly terms. Tenants, if you leased your house and the person in there never let you saw how it was being maintained, you be pretty suspicious and worried the place was being destroyed.

Final Walk Through Inspection: A landlord will always want to do a walk through inspection just before the tenant moves out. If there are damages to the property, take pictures so you can prove the damages and the extent of them in court. The tenant should also take a full set of pictures of the property when they move out showing every single wall in every room, so you can prove the condition of the property.

A tenant has the right to be present at the inspection if they jump through certain hoops. The tenant must notify the landlord of their intention to move, the date of the move, and their new address, within 15 days of the moving date. Notice must be by certified mail. The landlord then must notify the tenant of the inspection date by certified mail, and that inspection must take place 5 days either side of the moving date.

Security Deposits: Security Deposits must be returned within 45 days of the end of the tenancy along with 3% interest per year. A landlord can withhold part or all of the security deposit to cover unpaid rent or damages to the property. It is illegal to use the security deposit to pay the last month’s rent. The security deposit covers damages, and only those damages that are more than “ordinary wear and tear.”

What constitutes “ordinary wear and tear” is often an issue for dispute. Generally, things like painting and maintaining the lawn and removing the trash are “ordinary” and a landlord cannot deduct from the security deposit for it. But permanent damage like holes in the wall, or burn marks on cabinets, or broken appliances are something a landlord can withhold. In between there are a lot of items that may be questionable. If you have a question about withholding a deposit for a certain item, it is best to seek the advice of an attorney.

If the landlord wants to withhold any of the deposit, they must send a letter listing the damages and the amount withheld to the last known address of the tenant. This letter must be sent within 45 days of the end of the tenancy. If the letter is not sent, the landlord may not withhold the deposit. But that doesn’t mean the tenant gets away with damages. The landlord can still sue for the amount of damages, if there are any. But the tenant can sue for three times any amounts wrongfully withheld from a security deposit.

We strongly recommend you get a consultation with an attorney before withholding damages from a security deposit. The tenant can sue for three times the amount wrongfully withheld. And failure to jump through all the hoops just right can cost you the right to withhold the deposit at all. You can easily get yourself in trouble as a landlord, and give your tenant lots of ammunition to use against you in Court. Whenever you have a landlord & tenant legal dispute, at least get a legal consultation. Consider the $100 or so spent on a consultation cheap insurance, and just another cost of doing business as a landlord.

You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for it, or you are a client of our firm. We do not spam. If you wish to unsubscribe, please follow the directions below. This content is written by Tucker Clagett, a Partner at Andrews, Bongar, Starkey & Clagett, a full service law firm with offices in Waldorf & Lexington Park. If you have questions or comments or topic suggestions, please feel free to email him directly at Clagett at SouthernMarylandLaw.com. Thank you for reading.

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