Land lord is jacking my deposit!

[riverspecialist]

I came to san diego to chill for 3 months. I got a place and paid a $1000 sec. deposit. The lease ends tomorrow and chances r good she doesnt plan to give my deposit back. What if i just refuse to leave until i get my deposit or an explanation?

[riverspecialist]

(Heres the background)
At the signing of the lease i ask about a section that says $50/night for guests. I says "woah wha?" she says as long as no one is here for over 10 days, this is standard i guess.

The place has a hot tub that hasnt been used in a while. I fill it. Doesnt work. We drain it and get it repaired refill it and I start using/loving it.

A month later she says "zomg, the water bill shot up $260 and the lectric bill is gone up too." (beyond what u would expect from a tennant. I dont know much about this sort of thing so i tell her ill pay for it if it turns out these are reasonable. Rather than hold money fromt he deposit she actually askes for extra cash which i denied. (shady?!)

Eventually i look up the cost of water and find that it would cost less than $20 to fill the hot tub twice and that the jump in bill was probably because of a leak. I tell her this but she keeps getting mad and runs away when i try to talk to her about it (she lives on the property). There is deffinte tension.

Nearing the end of the lease and i ask her what she is planning to do with my deposit she says im not getting much back shes keeping $650 for guests (this would be wrong even if she did charge $50/night extra) and keeping $300 for the electric but i should be happy cause im prob getting something back ($50?)

I email her the URL for the prices of water online. This still doesnt convince her. I think her new boyfriend set her straight or something.

Anyway, my lease ends tomorrow and i have a flight that leaves at 2pm. What should I do? I keep trying to talk to her but she wont answer my phonecalls and acts like shes not home.

I think she has big plans to go on vacation or something tomorrow with her new boy and she has new tennants she wants to move in asap.

What if i just refuse to leave until i get my deposit back? What could happen legally? What are my option?

(I live in pittsburgh and make to much $/hr bother going to court for this)

[Micro Donk]

[x] rivered

[edfurlong]

$1000 worth of damage imo

[fybpm]

[ QUOTE ]
$1000 worth of damage imo

[/ QUOTE ]

Slash sell contents of place (e.g. dishwasher, doorknobs, carpet) on Craigslist.

[dieFTPdie]

[ QUOTE ]
$1000 worth of damage imo

[/ QUOTE ]

[GTL]

you were supposed to not pay the last month of rent. you're f-ed.

[riverspecialist]

ok, but maybe im not? What happens if i just dont leave?

[PayoffWiz]

your best bet is small claims. it's a pain in the ass, but might be worth your time.

if you threaten her that you'll sue, you may get lucky and scare her in to giving you the money back.

[apefish]

Here's an idea.
Read your lease.
See what it says to cover her adjustments etc.

The language of the lease will or won't cover some of this.

There are steps after that- but start there.