Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Landlord security deposit deductions

I began a lease on October 22, 2001. The lease was not renewed. On November 15th, 2002, I sent a letter to my landlord advising him that we would be vacating the property on December 22, 2002 and provided a check using the daily formula supplied in our original lease for the balance of the rent due. I requested he contact us for a final walk through and to let me know how long before we recieved our full deposit back, assuming he had no issues at the time of the walk through. We did the walk through in late December and he said that everything was fine and that no deductions would be taken. In a letter dated January 20th, he sent us a check with a deduction of $427.58. He claims that we were not permitted to break our lease prior to the first of the month. Is he correct? And if so, wasn't he obligated to discuss this with us at the time he recieved the letter or during the walk through? Do we have any recourse?

Thank you,

--name removed--Finn


Asked on 2/03/03, 5:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

Re: Landlord security deposit deductions

If your lease ended on the 22nd of the month, then when the lease expired you became a month to month tenant, with each month beginning on the 22nd. Therefore, you effectively ended the lease on 12/22 when you notified the landlord of your decision to terminate the tenancy. However, if your lease states that it expired at the end of October '02, then you became a month to month tenant on a calendar month basis after that, and any notice to terminate would become effective at the end of the calendar month following the month in which you gave notice to terminate.

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Answered on 2/04/03, 10:09 am


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