It depends on what state you are in according to RentLaw.com
Yes you can. Your landlord cannot use your last month's rent as security deposit and vice versa.
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Yes, only if the Landlord accepts. This is usually a request by a Tenant that is most often denied by the Landlord.
I think he can since he is new. Did you get back your deposit from the original landlord? I would try to get it or find out where the money went. The money could have been handed over to the new landlord or landlord 1 kept it. You may be able to sue him in small claims court for your deposit.
only if that is agreeable with landlord. A lease agreement without a lease is a verbal lease. Your last month's rent is not a security deposit.
The first month's rent pays for your first month in the apartment. You will owe the agreed-upon rent to the landlord the second month. I can't see why anything would be prorated--your security deposit cannot be used for rent.
The security deposit is returned: after the lease ends; the tenant moves out; and the landlord inspects the apartment. The landlord has the right to deduct any necessary cleaning and/or repairs to the apartment in order to ready it for a new tenant, but nothing to improve the apartment (for example, adding an air conditioner or dishwasher where none existed; replacing carpeting with hardwood flooring) beyond the condition in which it was leased. Depending on the condition of he apartment, the landlord may not refund any of the security deposit. Your best bet is to thoroughly clean the apartment and patch any holes/damage created during the lease. Optimally, you would have taken photos the day you moved in to prove the condition of the apartment as received.
To move into a dwelling, the landlord is going to generally ask you for the first month's rent, a security deposit, and often times the last months rent. Every state has its own rules about this and you should check with it. In South Carolina and Florida your security deposit may not exceed one month's rent. And in both states that security deposit may not be used as rent unless you and the landlord mutually agree.
This would depend on the landlord. If you landlord says yes to this, which I seriously doubt. Then obviously when you moved out you wouldn't get it back. Talk to the landlord about your situation. Maybe something can be worked out.
Under the Tenant Security Deposit Act, a landlord of a residential rental property can collect a security deposit of 2 weeks' rent if the tenancy is week to week, 1 1/2 months' rent if the tenancy is month to month, or 2 months' rent if the tenancy period is greater than month to month (such as a yearly tenancy). The Act also allows the landlord to ask for a "reasonable" non-refundable pet deposit.
First and last months security deposit is given so the landlord has a means of repairing any damage you might do to the house. It encourages the renter to take care of the property in order to get their deposit back.
Your state laws should have a section about "landlord and tenant" or the like. There are also many self-help books available about landlord/tenant laws. In Massachusetts, for example, the law defines both a security deposit and a damage deposit and ONLY the security deposit can be applied to delinquent rent, and the damage deposit remains the property of the tenant until the landlord proves damage to the premises and the costs to repair them.