Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

Questionable Lease and Landlord practices

My lease recently terminated. I sent writen notification to both the property manager in my town and the owner/landlord in New Mexico. The owner/landlord is now withholding my full deposit ($1000) saying they never recieved notice in the mail of our intention to vacate. We also verbaly told the property manager we were vacating. Also...upon further inspection of the lease...it was never signed by anyone other than myself and my wife. Is this still a legal binding lease? Am I out of luck with this? or is the Landlord out of luck? Also.. where can I go from here.


Asked on 4/26/05, 10:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Elizabeth Powell ELizabeth Powell PS Inc

Re: Questionable Lease and Landlord practices

First question: Did you have a lease term for greater than a month - for example, for six months or a year? What does the lease say about termination and the necessity of providing notice of intent not to renew? I'd need to read your lease to give you the proper answer.

BOTH forms are customary; some require 20 days notice of intent to not renew, others say there is no notice as long as you are out when the lease is up.

Did you save a copy of the written notice of termination?

Was the deposit you gave a security deposit or a damage deposit? Again, your lease will say. I don't know from here.

Did your lease include a checklist of the conditions in the premises at the inception of the tenancy? Did you do a walk-thru at the end of the tenancy?

There's a rule about that, too. I would be happy to discuss this with you if that would help. You may have a teriffic case for small claims court, and the rules have been revised recently so that I can help you with that. Let me know.

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Answered on 4/27/05, 12:09 am


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