Blog

Substandard housing is a growing issue. It’s estimated that 330 million urban households worldwide live in substandard housing. In the United States alone there are about six million homes and apartment buildings listed as substandard, and the problem isn’t going away any time soon. 

We recently posted an article about subleases, and how this may be a remedy for renters who need help paying the rent, or need to move out of their rental unit temporarily but plan on coming back.  However, if a tenant who has entered into a written lease agreement for a fixed period of time needs to move out PERMANENTLY before the lease term ends, they would be better off executing an assignment of the lease.  This can be an issue with residential or commercial leases.

Situations can arise where a renter who has entered into a written lease agreement for a fixed period of time needs to move out (even if only temporarily) before the lease term has ended.   Maybe the tenant got a new job suddenly and needs to relocate.  Maybe the tenant knows he or she won’t be able to make rent payments anymore and wants to avoid an eviction on their record.  Maybe the tenant is a college student and plans on going home for the summer but wants to return again in fall.

Our final blog post in the series on security deposits will discuss a tenant’s options if he or she feels their landlord is wrongfully deducting or withholding the security deposit after move-out.

In our last article in this series, we provided some recommendations for what a tenant should look for in a rental unit before the rental period begins.  Now let’s focus on what happens when it’s time for the security deposit to be returned.

By requesting a move out inspection PRIOR to the move out, a tenant gets the chance to try and make some the repairs or do the cleaning before the landlord deducts the costs of repair/cleaning from the security deposit.  Here’s how it works: