Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

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We rented a house, and had the lease for 1 year, july 15th, 2010, to july 31 2011. But around Jan 2011, we thought that we could buy a house, so we started looking for house, and in the month of Feb 2011, we talked to our landlord, that we are looking for house and if we found a house, will he let us off the lease 1 month before i.e as of june 30th, he also said yes,This means we gave the landlord a 6 month notice to vacate his property, and we made a verbal agreement, if he was able to rent the same house for the month of july, he would refund my deposit of $1200. As per schedule we also found a house, and we moved before the said date, Till july 15th 2011, we never heard a single word from the landlord, then we drove by our old rented house, some body was living there, that means that somebody has already moved in for the month of july, then we called him, but he never returned our call, finally we emailed him asking what happened and why he didn't respond, for that he responded by mail stating that he was able to rent the house only by the mid of july, (But the renters in that house occupied earlier than what he said), and he is not taking any rent from him for the month of july, as he is letting them stay free for the month of july, he will be getting rent only for the month of August, and he said the he used my deposit for his july mortgage payment on the same house, and he wont be able to refund any deposit, as there was nothing left. and said "Sorry".

What are we suppose to do, is there a way to get my deposit back.


Asked on 7/17/11, 6:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

The first place to start is your written lease. Read it carefully. If the landlord did it correctly, it includes a provision that clearly states that all modifications to the lease must be in writing. If it does, you obviously have a problem because the agreement you claim was made is prohibited by your lease. This provision would have been discovered by reading the lease carefully when you wanted to modify it.

Even if it does not, it is not appropriate to handle business matters like this without putting them in writing, signed by the parties. Your situation is the very reason for this rule. What is your evidence of a modification, beyond your word against his? The deposit money is often going to be the amount of the lesson learned.

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Answered on 7/18/11, 5:28 am


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