house being sold; being charged pet fees I already paid

[erin]

I am renting a house through a Realtor agency that sells and rents houses. They are selling the house and are trying to charge me pet fees that I already paid via money order when I moved in (but unfortunately never got a receipt for).

I lived there for 6 months and then in December all of the sudden they "realized" that I never paid my pet deposit. The lease I signed just said I would owe a 300$ pet deposit and that is the same lease that is just being transferred to the new owner in the end of Feb.

The house is being closed on the last day in February. The lease doesn't end until July, so the lease is being transferred to the new owner on that day. If I simply don't pay the pet fee "owed", can they take it out of my security deposit to pay the current owner, or will I just then "owe" the pet fee to the new owner? The new owner wants us to leave ASAP, so I am fairly certain he will "waive" the pet fee (which I really already paid) to get us out before July - I would prefer this to ending up in small claims court over 300$

I live in South Carolina.

(Also I don't know if this is relevant or not, but apparently the house had been on the market for sale for the past 3 years, which they did NOT disclose to us before we signed the lease, and then also tried to lie to us saying that 'the owner's circumstances had changed and he had to sell the house' when in reality he had always had the house on the market up for sale.)

[AFFA]

Re: house being sold; being charged pet fees I already paid

I wish to inform you that you will have to provide evidence to show that you have paid the pet fees, otherwise, the amount may be deducted from your security deposit. Further, regarding the disclosure about the house being on sale for the past 3 years if you had made an inquiry an false information had been provided to you then it could lead to a termination of contract by you as the contract was made on a false premise otherwise not.

AFF

[sandyclaus]

Re: house being sold; being charged pet fees I already paid

I am renting a house through a Realtor agency that sells and rents houses. They are selling the house and are trying to charge me pet fees that I already paid via money order when I moved in (but unfortunately never got a receipt for).

I lived there for 6 months and then in December all of the sudden they "realized" that I never paid my pet deposit. The lease I signed just said I would owe a 300$ pet deposit and that is the same lease that is just being transferred to the new owner in the end of Feb.

The house is being closed on the last day in February. The lease doesn't end until July, so the lease is being transferred to the new owner on that day. If I simply don't pay the pet fee "owed", can they take it out of my security deposit to pay the current owner, or will I just then "owe" the pet fee to the new owner? The new owner wants us to leave ASAP, so I am fairly certain he will "waive" the pet fee (which I really already paid) to get us out before July - I would prefer this to ending up in small claims court over 300$

I live in South Carolina.

(Also I don't know if this is relevant or not, but apparently the house had been on the market for sale for the past 3 years, which they did NOT disclose to us before we signed the lease, and then also tried to lie to us saying that 'the owner's circumstances had changed and he had to sell the house' when in reality he had always had the house on the market up for sale.)

I'm confused - are you talking about unpaid FEES or an unpaid DEPOSIT? They may not be the same thing, and you are referring to them interchangeably.

The DEPOSIT is money intended as funds to replace/repair damages that you caused during your occupancy. If it's a PET DEPOSIT, it's intended to applied towards any damages specifically attributable to the pet(s) living in the rental unit.

More importantly, if you paid the pet deposit, even if you failed to retain the receipt you received for paying it, you should be able to obtain a copy of the money order you used to pay for it.

As for not notifying you that the house was up for sale in the manner that you would have preferred, that is of no consequence. Either way, any existing lease (encumbrance) would have to be honored by the new owner after sale anyway.

[Unregistered]

Re: house being sold; being charged pet fees I already paid

In the lease it is called a non-refundable pet deposit. I'm not sure how to get a receipt for a money order - I tried looking online but couldn't find any way to do so. I just want to know if I don't know pay it by the time the house is sold, if they can legally take it out of my (refundable) security deposit to give to the current owner.