THE EDITOR, Sir:
LAST YEAR, a completing law student, who had been a model tenant, failed to pay my step-mother the final month's rent. She told her that the security deposit which she had paid accounted for that final payment. Fortunately, there was nothing of significance that needed attention when she had left.
I have just had a similar experience, where a young lawyer (trained in the United States and at the Norman Manley Law School), who was the party responsible for renting an apartment from me, failed to pay the last month's rental after having always paid on the first day of each month.
When challenged by me for non-payment of the rent, she said that applying the security deposit to the last month's rent was a common practice. I expressed surprise that I should need to indicate to a lawyer that such a practice defeated the very purpose of the security deposit, which was stated in the tenancy agreement, as the onus would then be on the landlord to recover any outstanding utility payments and other expenses.
While I am aware that some landlords may not be businesslike in promptly returning the deposit after all such expenses are settled, that is certainly no justification for what is an established procedure in landlord-tenant agreements to be simply turned on its head.
I am, etc.,
JOHN A. MAXWELL
john.joanmax@cwjamaica.com
Hope Boulevard
