No lease, worries?

[mikusmoose]

So I moved into this house last under kind of strange circumstances. First, there was no lease, second I met the property owner for all of five minutes, third he never gave me his address so I could send him rent (I eventually tracked it down and made payments every month) and finally we never discussed when I was to move out. Now he is suing me for property damages. I Just kind guessed I should be out in May (it was a seasonal rental home), so early may I found a house and started moving in. I paid some friends to move my stuff for me. I had hired someone to clean the house the last week of May. Well in-between the time I had moved out and before the cleaners started his son went in to the house and it was a mess and there was 3 inches of water on the floor in the basement, not sure why but I had not been there for a couple of weeks(He apparently took pictures). The cleaners cleaned it the next day. He is suing me for 1800$ in damages. Should I get a lawyer or do I have nothing to worry about?

[annjd]

You are not liable unless you did something that caused that damage.

[OHlandlord]

I assume you sent written notice to him of when you would move out. If so, the LL should not be assessing damages prior to the return of the keys since you still have a chance to remediate any problems in the unit prior to returning possession. If your cleaners were there to clean the property just prior to returning the keys and he assessed damages before that, he needs to go back in and re-inspect the property for damages. Request a re-inspection, in your presence, to evaluate any damages you will be charged for since he inspected prior to his possession. BTW, what was the cause of water in the basement? It may or may not be your responsibility, depending on the cause.

I did not send him a written notice becuase I did not have his address or #. I never got any keys. I dont know how the h2o got in the basement nor does he.

[OHlandlord]

You said, "I did not send him a written notice becuase I did not have his address or #." But you said that, "I eventually tracked it down and made payments every month" so you had been sending him rent payments to some address throughout the tenancy. You should have sent a written notice to vacate at least 30 days prior to moving out, and not just assume that you were supposed to leave. Without a lease, you were a month to month tenant and the LL is entitled to notice that you are planning to vacate (the amount of notice differs by state law). If you failed to give notice, you may be charged for this. Had the LL given you any notice that you were to be out in May?

If you had no keys, then did you have a combination lock or a card to unlock the door? Did you return the card? How would he know when you moved out if there was no notice or any keys to return?

The reason for the water in the basement must be discovered. It could be a broken pipe, a drainage problem on the property, weather related (flood), or from some other cause. Without knowing what the reason was, it would be hard to charge you for this damage. However, if you failed to give notice and this occurred while the place was vacant and the owner was unaware of the vacancy, he may argue that you are responsible. Had you notified him he could have secured the premises, took precautions against pipes freezing, etc. (whatever the cause might have been) Prepare for this.