Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Alaska

Re: Tenancy without rental agreement

With the caution that my opinion is based solely on your version of the facts, and I doubt that the landlord would necessarily agree with all you have said, here it is:

Since you didn't sign a written rental agreement in the beginning, your tenancy is governed by the "default" terms of the Alaska Landlord-Tenant Act. Assuming you paid rent monthly, that means you are assumed to be in a month-to-month tenancy, and since no security deposit was requested at the time you moved in, none was required. If your written condition statement was not objected to at the time, it is accepted as correct.

Your landlord's later demand for a security deposit was a material change from the prior oral agreement, and therefore could only take effect on the first rental due date following at least 30 days written notice. Since legal notice of a material change is, in effect, a termination of the old agreement, you would be free to either accept the new terms or move out on the date the new terms would take effect.

While neither party can unilaterally terminate or modify a month-to-month tenancy on less than 30 days notice as described above, it can still be done if BOTH parties AGREE to do it. Unless the agreement to accept less than the statutory notice is in writing, however, proving that agreement later in court could be a problem.

Since you paid no security deposit, it would take a lawsuit to force you to pay any damages after you move out. As plaintiff, your landlord would have the burden of proof to show that you left the unit in worse condition than when you moved in, based on your condition statement. As long as you leave it in the same or better condition than that, you should be OK.