My sisters landlord wont give her back her rent deposit?

Question

her landlord breeched their rental agreement, it says in the agreement that she and her boy friend get two parking places in the drive way,but one day she says to my sister(who is pregnant 8 months )that she has to park in the street ( the house is on a steep hill) , so any way when they were ready the move out ,they didnt give the landlord a 30 day notice, so the landlord with held the 700 dollar deposit for breech of contract,but the land lord breeched it first,

ANY ADVICE BECAUSE SHE REALLY NEEDS THE MONEY TO TAKE CARE OF HER 4 MONTH OLD GIRL,PLEASE

Answer 1

She is going to have to take them to small claims court.  The time and money it will cost for that its not worth it.  Two wrongs dont make a right.  They should of let him know they were going to move out.

Answer 2

The landlord does not care, unfortunately. She should have given the 30 day notice as required by the lease. It is sad, but she won't get her deposit back. Also, you don't say if they broke the lease early or if that was the end of the lease, but really no matter, your sister is out the money.

Answer 3

Unfortunetly in the eye of the law, two wrongs don't make a right. She should have given the 30 day notice as required by lease agreement. She has no options here, but to call it a lesson learned.... sorry.

Answer 4

I would check with the tenancy act in your sister's state.  In some states the deposit can be withheld.  In other states the landlord cannot withhold the security deposit to recover rent unpaid.

See if there is a tenant advocate agency in the area who is well versed with the landlord/tenancy act that protects your sister's interests.

It may be that since the landlord breached the agreement then your sister may not be required to give 30 days notice.  The reason I say this is how can the terms of the agreement be enforceable in one situation (30 day notice requirement) and not in the other (2 parking spaces allowed)?

Regardless, she was paying rent for a suite and 2 parking spaces.  At the very least she should have asked for and received a reduction in rent.

This situation is not as clear cut as others are suggesting but you need to provide and get a legal opinion (not necessarily from an attorney)

Something to think about:

"Courts will award damages in the event of a breach, but the intent is not to punish the breaching party, but rather to put the other party in the position they would occupy if the contract had been fulfilled."

Answer 5

Sorry, she did not give notice, she forfeits the deposit.

She had to go to court FIRST on the landlords breech if she wanted to pursue it, not just up and decide to play Judge and determine the outcome of her case herself.

She messed up and is out 700.

Answer 6

Take the landlord to small claims court, the judge may go either way on this one.  Your sister should have sent a letter right away about the parking, but the judge might find hardship due to the medical nature of the case.

Answer 7

Your sister has no idea of the law.  You can not just walk away from a legally binding lease.  Proper legal procedures must be followed if she claims the landlord is in breach.  She just choose to walk away...wrong move.  Now she will be liable for any loses the landlord suffer by her obvious breach.

Answer 8

if shes not left yet tell her to take the value out the flat

Answer 9

If you do not give 30 days notice, you do NOT get your deposit back.  This is the law in most states.

They should have disputed the parking issue at the time. They accepted the new terms by not doing anything about it.

If something about your rental agreement changes and you do nothing to stop it, you legally accept the change. It works both ways. ie: if tenant gets an unauthorized pet but the landlord does nothing about it, the lease now accepts pets.