Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

My original lease expired and I was a tenant-at-will for 5 months because my landlord never presented me with another lease. I paid rent and fulfilled all obligations during this time. At the beginning of the last month, along with my rent I gave a 30 day notice for terminating the tenancy-at-will as required by GA law. I completed the walk-thru with my landlord on the last day and we agreed that he could deduct a reasonable amount of the security deposit to have the carpet cleaned.

One full month passed and I heard no word from the landlord about my deposit. I contacted the property manager, who I dealt with most of the time, and she informed me that the landlord would get back with me on the deposit when he arrived back from vacation, which would be 10 more days. It wasn't until 14 days later, a total of 44 days after the walk-thru, that I was told that I would only receive half of my deposit because the landlord had to replace part of the carpet, which I didn't agree to. A few days later I received half of the deposit along with an itemized list of why he was keeping the other portion, and this list even included other minor items that we never agreed to. I sent the check back to him via certified mail along with a notice that I was filing a claim because, per the GA code, since he did none of this within one month of the day I vacated the premises, he forfeits his right to keep any of my deposit, no matter what. On top of that, since he hires a third party to manage the property, he is liable for 3 times the deposit.

I filed the claim with the county magistrate court, and his attorney answered that since it was a tenancy at will the law doesn't apply to our case, and that I was supposed to give a 60 day notice, and also that since his wife signed the notice of the claim that was sent to him that he has not been served properly because she is not associated with his LLC even though I did send it to the address as provided by the property manager (he signed the lease under his LLC and that is who I filed the claim against), and that the sheriff did not serve him within 5 days of receiving the claim from the court.

We have our hearing next Tuesday. Am I correct in my position that the landlord is still not entitled to the security deposit or can he use one of those loopholes above to get out of it? Basically, do I have a case? I can clearly prove with documentation that he did not respond about the security deposit within one month after the tenancy was terminated. Will that be enough?

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Landlord & Tenants questions and answers in Georgia

Looking for something else?