Q: We recently moved out of a house in Arlington, VA and our landlord came back and is asking for additional compensation
over the $6,600 security deposit. Many of the items we obviously believe are unfair, mis-priced, or responsibility of the landlord. We also have documentation of the landlord knowingly violating housing codes of more than 4 unrelated people living in the same house and asking if we can find additional people. If the property was in violation of the housing codes and therefore not be fit for rental purposes, would ths mean the premises would be illegal and cannot be rented out? Can we use this to in our case against him?
A: In Virginia, a residential landlord is required to provide the tenant who moved out with a move out inspection and after 30 days from the date that the landlord received possession back, a itemization of property damages that the landlord claims are the fault of the tenant and deductible from the security deposit. The tenant should have a record of the condition of the rental unit on the day of taking possession (move in date) so there is a record for comparison with the move out date inspection. If the tenant believes the itemization provided by the landlord is incorrect, the tenant can proceed in court with a Warrant in Debt to challenge the landlord's itemization. When the tenant files the lawsuit, the tenant is then the claimant and will be required to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the tenant did not cause the damages and the landlord's itemization is excessive. During the trail, the tenant may testify about the alleged housing code violations made by the landlord to show character evidence of the landlord for acting dishonestly.
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