Q: Breaking lease
I signed a lease for 15 months. The lease termination agreement read if I break lease due to reasons such as out of state job offer I need to pay 1 months rent as penalty. We are breaking the lease in 2 months because we bought a house. We gave the landlord 1 months notice. The landlord asked me to pay 1 months rent, for cleaning fees, and listing fees. He said he was being generous because the termination agreement only mentioned out of state and didn’t mention purchase a home. We paid the 1 months rent and there was no listing fees either. The problem is the cleaning fees. The house carpet was dirty when we moved in and we have videos that show that as well. The landlord is charging me 475$(cleaning fee which we paid) plus 650$ for carpet cleaning (1125$ tots) We feel it’s unfair to charge us this much given we stayed at the apt for less than 2 months and it wasn’t cleaned before we moved either. The new tenants have already moved in and the owners don’t have a single day of lost pay
A: You should be able to get a recovery for the security deposit that was unlawfully withheld. A simple letter from an attorney sometimes works. If that doesn't work, a small claims lawsuit can give you a chance to get your deposit back. You may contact me if you have any further questions.
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