Told to evict within two months and now withholding sec. deposit

Hi,

My landlord and I are on a verbal month-to-month lease and informed me that I was to evict the property by oct 31 because of uncleanliness (which is not the issue at hand here). This notice was given to me verbally on the 4th of september. I thereafter secured a new apartment and am planning to move in on the 30th of september. The landlord is now threatening to keep the security deposit on grounds that I did not give 30 days notice even though i was given an ultimatum to vacate by oct 31 and not on a specific date. Can he legally keep my security deposit?

You were given notice to vacate or terminate (not an eviction notice) on October 31. Since you have no current lease, the LL gave you the state required notice to vacate. Since it was given after the first of the month, it probably doesn't take effect until October, meaning you needed to be out on October 31st. You did not give him the state required amount of notice that you would vacate sooner than this date. Therefore, you owe rent up to the date of the notice, October 31st. You need to pay rent for October if your state is a term state. If it is a day for day state, you owe him rent for the state required notice period starting from the date you told him that you would move out earlier. Confused?

Some states are term states. It sounds as if your state is one. In term states, all notices must start on the rent due date and end on the last day of the rental month. If rent is due on the first and notices are given after that, they become effective on the next first. So a notice given on the 4th becomes effective on the next 1st. If your state is a term state, his notice is effective on October 1st and you must be out October 31st. Your notice to move out earlier wouldn't take effect until Oct. 1st either so you'd owe for all of October regardless.

If your state is a day for day state, his notice just gave you extra time to be out for your convenience. You can give notice to move out earlier and count, day for day, the state required amount of days forward to get the notice period. (Most states require a 30 day notice.) You would only owe a pro-rated amount of rent for October to cover those 30 days (or whatever period your state requires). You would count forward from the day you informed him that you would move out early and pay for just those days. Receiving a notice to end your rental agreement does not absolve you from the requirement to give proper notice if you want to leave before that date.

If he re-rents the unit during the month of October, you are entitled to a refund of pro-rated rent for the days it is rented to another tenant.