Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: Application Fee for credit check

As to the first part, it is a little hard to answer without knowing more about why a $20 check was requested. I can only imagine that this was an application fee for the purpose of pulling a credit report. If you did not submit an application and the landlord did not pull a credit report, I cannot see any reason for the landlord to deposit and keep your $20. But then I am not sure what reason the landlord is giving for asking for this $20 to start with. You might be on shakier grounds if you had submitted the application form, if the idea is that the $20 is for the administrative handling and work. But this sounds unusual. You could go to small claims court, where it would cost you more than $20 to start the case but if you win you would get the $20 plus the court filing fees. No lawyers are allowed in small claims court.

As to the second, this is a sticky situation. Both of you are legally obligated on the lease until the lease expires. Unless the landlord signs a release or signs a new lease, you are still "there" legally even if you're not there.

So,there is no obligation you have regarding the utilities. But then again your housemate is under no obligation to let you leave early, either. Normally the utilities would be shut off at the end of the lease. Since you will remain on the lease until it expires or a new lease is signed, you need your housemate's cooperation for you to be able to leave early. And even then if your housemate defaults on the lease, the landlord could come after you for the balance of the rent. The landlord could collect from either of you or both, until the total is collected. Therefore, your strongest obligation is winning your housemate's support and cooperation for you to be able to leave early, and to make it work well.

Technically, I don't think the utility companies view the accounts as something that is transferable. If you close those accounts, your housemate would have to open a new account, which is really the only way to actually do that. The utility companies would of course do both at one time, so hopefully there should be no interruption.

Re: Application Fee for credit check

Assuming that the property you were planning to rent was covered by the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act(VRLTA), Section 55.248.6:1 would appear to govern your issue of the application fee, which basically, says that landlords are entitled to require application fees for rental units and may retain them as a cost of processing the application, up to $32.00. Beyond that amount landlords must provide an accounting to the applicant and refund any mounts which are not reflective of the landlord's actual costs and damages incurred as a result of the application process.

Regarding your second question, your concern about giving formal notice to your soon to be ex-roommate regarding the utilities is misplaced.

It's not the roommate but rather the utility company which must be adequately informed of your moveout and that you will no longer be responsible for any utility bills incurred after the end of whatever billing cycle your moveout falls under. If you fail to give the utility proper notice you may be on the hook for large sums of utility bills---continuing even after your ex-roommate moves out.

Formal notice should be sent to the utility certified mail with return receipt requested which should also be accompanied by a first class letter sent to the same address. You will also need to ascertain the precise subdepartment of the utility and its address which should receive this notification---otherwise, as previously mentioned, you could be on the hook for these bills for a long time. If there's a phone number to contact the utility regarding the moveout, that should also be utilized, noting and preserving the date and time of the call.

All of the foregoing, I know from the experience of having represented clients who were billed for utilities long after they had moved out from their respective rental units and then found themselves being dunned by agressive collection agencies for unpaid utility bills. Why? Because, naturally, they had failed to properly and adequately inform the utilities of their respective moveouts.