Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

Re: Landlord over charging tenant for cleaning after move out

I suspect the students will have a somewhat expensive lesson in learning to document problems in writing rather than relying on calls to or discussions with the landlord. The amount of money involved is certainly a small claims matter and the problem could be in part that the judge will tend to side with the party whom he perceives to be more mature and responsible (i.e., the local landlord). Had they composed and sent a letter to the landlord or had an addendum to the lease when signed that documented the landlord's failure to have the apartment readied for the move in as well as a letter concerning the leak problem and/or (in that case) a call to the local health department for an inspection would help their case a great deal. I suspect no letters exchanged hands and no pictures were taken. I would suggest that the studens take some time to check with the small claims court to check on prior suits by the landlord - esp if he sued the tenant who lived there just before they moved in for the same damages or cleaning costs. That information would be relevant to the judge in order to convince him that the problem lay with the landlord and not the tenants. Possibly having parents or unrelated adults (not girlfriends) attend court and testify to having heard conversations with the landlord or having been present during the move in or move out period would lend credence to the students' testimony that there is nothing more due the landlord and that they are entitled to all or a portion of the security deposit back. Since there are 5 of them, they might want to chip in on the cost of an attorney to represent them in the small claims case, as a division of the cost would probably be less than what the landlord seeks and their case would be presented more coherently (rather than all 5 trying to jump in at any time).