bats

I'm worried that you might fetch the body back, that's an instinct thing isn't it for you gun dog types. Could you just dig a hole and bury them?

Stinkypup

For an increased cut of our fee, I would eat the evidence!

Tinpusher63

Wasn't there a cartoon about those two.

Oops I got it wrong it's Pinky and the Brain.

bats

You want meals provided now?

Stinkypup

I'm doing you a favour! I'm concealing the evidence

Pulaski

Nope, no bad experiences, and I put that down to being cautious.

BTW Much "verification" can be achieved by looking for consistent information between different sources of information and what a person tells you. Liars usually make mistakes, and identifing discrepancies often leads to other "issues".

MarylandNed

I'm curious as to what deductions you are talking about. You had a deposit of one month's rent so shouldn't the only deduction be you deducting the final month's rent from that deposit? The only other things I can think of are (a) loss/damage caused by the tenant or (b) unpaid utility bills. Not sure what the set up is but weren't utility bills in the tenant's name?

scrubbedexpat091

If the renter skipped out on rent and moved to the UK, there is a decent chance they didn't clean the place and/or left a bunch of stuff that needed to be removed.

MarylandNed

I'm curious about the "deductions" that the landlord mentioned and how those amount to a full month's rent. I mentioned loss/damage and utility bills (although utility bills are usually in the tenant's name unless the property is shared with the landlord). As you said, there might be clean-up fees to get the place into a state fit to rent if the tenant didn't leave the place as it was found. However, I consider that to be part of the cost of doing business unless the tenant left the place in a real mess (in which case, I would consider that to be damage). We're guessing until the landlord confirms. We're also only hearing one side of the story. It could be that the tenant left thinking the deposit covered the last month's rent and wasn't aware of any other fees - whatever they are.

scrubbedexpat091

That is certainly possible since Alberta allows a deposit equal to 1 month rent.

MarylandNed

And the landlord has already confirmed that the tenant gave a deposit for 1 month's rent (see post #26).

Pulaski

But "one month's deposit" and "one month's rent not paid" are a wash, leaving nothing to cover damage or extraordinary cleaning. There might be nothing else to pay for, but it is fairly easy to spend a deposit on damage (more than "normal wear and tear") to carpets, walls, and doors.

MarylandNed

Understood and the landlord has been short on details thus all the guessing. It would be interesting to know what deductions the landlord has actually come up with in this particular case. Was it made clear to the tenant that the deposit was not actually for the final month's rent? That is, the final month's rent was to be paid regardless and then the deposit would be refunded afterwards minus any deductions for loss/damage etc. Once the final month's rent wasn't paid, did the landlord try to recover it during that final month? Or did the tenant leave before the lease was up?