I've been renting a room in a house, for about the last eight months. I did not sign a lease at any point with this landlord. I did give a security deposit, or last months rent whatever you want to call it, a couple of months after I moved in. The landlord never gave me a bank statement showing me that the security deposit(or last months rent) had been deposited in an account separate from his personal account.
Anyway, I gave notice and told the landlord to keep the security deposit as 30 days notice, so the rent is paid for the next month. However, I suspect that the landlord spent the security deposit and does not have it any longer. Anyway, the landlord is threatening to take me to court over this, claiming I didn't give 30 days notice. He is also demanding that I pay the next months rent.
The whole thing seems stupid, if the landlord has the security deposit why doesn't he use it for the last months rent? I did this often in the last city I lived in when I changed apartments, I was never threatened with court. If he does have the security deposit, it seems ridiculous to pay rent for a month when I've moved out and then have the landlord pay me the security deposit at the end of that same month.
By the way, the landlord has sent me very abusive emails and voicemail messages, completely out of line, which is one of the reasons I'm moving out. This landlord has also demanded that rent be paid early, sometimes two weeks before it's due. I've saved a couple of the voicemails and have all the emails. If I do go to court, would the abusive behavior of the landlord, which I can document to some extent, have any effect on a decision by the judge?