makaveli662
New Member
I'm hoping some of you can shed some legit legal light on this issue...here are the facts:
Me, my fiancee, and a former friend rented out the bottom level of our landlord's house; all three of our names were on the month-to-month lease. There was no security deposit required. During our residency, me and my fiancee came to realize how utterly careless, dirty, and...unsavory, our 3rd roommate actually was. After living in the house for almost a year, we were notified by the landlord on 8/16/10 that we were being evicted (in order to replace us as residents with their family from Mexico..). Given the sudden notice, me and my fiancee did our best to find a new place (which we did), and moved into it on 9/1; our other roommate was left to fend for herself, and ultimately moved out as well.
Now...given the rush in which we moved, we had all agreed to clean certain parts of the place. Me and my fiancee cleaned our room, the kitchen, and the living room; my roommate had agreed to clean her room, the bathroom, and the fridge (where she had left disgusting rotting food and exploded cans of Pepsi). The landlords had given us until 9/20 to move out and have the place clean. Me and my fiancee have made several trips back to the place to clean, until we were satisfied we had done our part. However, neither we nor the landlords have been able to successfully reach the other roommate (by phone, email, etc.) to have her clean, and have yet to hear back from her. Unfortunately, we have been the only ones responsible enough to maintain communication with the landlord (to return keys, clean, etc.), which brings me to my question(s)...
The landlord is threatening to sue us because we are refusing to pay to have the carpets cleaned. To be clear, the carpets are NOT filthy...it's just ordinary 'wear-and-tear' that a carpet endures over the course of a year. My fiancee (god bless her) vacuumed, scrubbed, and spent all kinds of time cleaning our areas, and is now going back today to take pictures of the place, for record's sake. But are me and my fiancee solely responsible for this, simply because the other roommate refuses to respond to the landlord? Isn't this what a security deposit is for? Are we legally required to comply with the landlord's demand, or are we exempt because of the lack of security deposit initially? My fiancee suggested we just do what our roommate did and just ignore all subsequent communication/threats/etc. from the landlord, and I'm inclined to agree at this point as we've done more than our fair share of cleaning.
What does the community here think? What legal parameters (if any) are we obligated to act in? Any comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Me, my fiancee, and a former friend rented out the bottom level of our landlord's house; all three of our names were on the month-to-month lease. There was no security deposit required. During our residency, me and my fiancee came to realize how utterly careless, dirty, and...unsavory, our 3rd roommate actually was. After living in the house for almost a year, we were notified by the landlord on 8/16/10 that we were being evicted (in order to replace us as residents with their family from Mexico..). Given the sudden notice, me and my fiancee did our best to find a new place (which we did), and moved into it on 9/1; our other roommate was left to fend for herself, and ultimately moved out as well.
Now...given the rush in which we moved, we had all agreed to clean certain parts of the place. Me and my fiancee cleaned our room, the kitchen, and the living room; my roommate had agreed to clean her room, the bathroom, and the fridge (where she had left disgusting rotting food and exploded cans of Pepsi). The landlords had given us until 9/20 to move out and have the place clean. Me and my fiancee have made several trips back to the place to clean, until we were satisfied we had done our part. However, neither we nor the landlords have been able to successfully reach the other roommate (by phone, email, etc.) to have her clean, and have yet to hear back from her. Unfortunately, we have been the only ones responsible enough to maintain communication with the landlord (to return keys, clean, etc.), which brings me to my question(s)...
The landlord is threatening to sue us because we are refusing to pay to have the carpets cleaned. To be clear, the carpets are NOT filthy...it's just ordinary 'wear-and-tear' that a carpet endures over the course of a year. My fiancee (god bless her) vacuumed, scrubbed, and spent all kinds of time cleaning our areas, and is now going back today to take pictures of the place, for record's sake. But are me and my fiancee solely responsible for this, simply because the other roommate refuses to respond to the landlord? Isn't this what a security deposit is for? Are we legally required to comply with the landlord's demand, or are we exempt because of the lack of security deposit initially? My fiancee suggested we just do what our roommate did and just ignore all subsequent communication/threats/etc. from the landlord, and I'm inclined to agree at this point as we've done more than our fair share of cleaning.
What does the community here think? What legal parameters (if any) are we obligated to act in? Any comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated.
