Folks,
I'm having some issues getting my deposit back from my landlord, and I wanted to get some idea of what my rights were and whether this is worth spending more time on.
I resided in an apartment between July 2007 and June 2008 with a roommate we shall call Mark. Mark had resided in the same apartment since 2004, signing a new lease each year with a different roommate each time until I came along. At the end of each lease, my landlord returned the deposit money to Mark's roommates, no questions asked. For any particular new lease, if the rent increased, Mark added money to the deposit being held by the landlord. It is known to be a fact that the landlord entered the apartment at various times for various purposes between 2004 and 2008, but he made no indication to Mark that anything was wrong with the apartment. Let us say that Mark and I contributed a total of $3000 for the security deposit on the apartment.
In June 2008, Mark and I vacated the apartment completely. At this point, the landlord inspected the apartment and came up with a list of things that were damaged in the apartment - cracked washbasin, cracked glass on the oven, etc - all of which are known to have happened between 2004 and June 2007, i.e. before I signed my lease. He has withheld our complete deposit on these grounds, without providing any list of damages or bills indicating the costs he has incurred fixing them.
Mark and I believe that by accepting new money into the security deposit on the apartment when I moved in in June 2007, the landlord forfeited his right to charge us for damages incurred prior to that. As a result, if he cannot prove that any damages occurred between June 2007 and 2008, he should return our deposit in full. The landlord, however, believes that since the apartment was never vacated completely between 2004 and June 2008, the apartment was NOT returned in the same state it was delivered in 2004, and regardless of the fact that I only moved into the apartment in 2007, I 'inherit' the conditions on the apartment because it was not vacated and must forfeit my deposit. Does this sound legit? He made us a partial offer of 40% of our total deposit as compensation for a period when the apartment was not maintained properly by him, but I don't want to accept it if I'm entitled to my full deposit back.
What do you guys think? Do I have a shot here? Thanks for your help!