Landlady from Hell !!! Any advice would be of great help!

We terminated our 2-year fixed rental contract one month before the lease expired because of several reasons:

1. Flat too small since we had a baby & hired a helper

2. Dampness from bathroom has caused the wood floors to swell up along hallway (we had informed her this about 1.5 years ago & she refused to fix)


To make a LONG story short...

- we provided 1.5 month notice & not once did she insisted that we live right up to the last day

- they agreed to meet on Nov 3 to do the "handover" of the apartment

- after inspecting, they said that we had to pay for 50% of the last month's rent because we were ending early

- after heated discussion, we negotiated down to 25%, but they refused, so we said that we won't handover the apt & they left

- when we went downstairs, they were waiting for us in the lobby & said they would agree


What's funny is that they did not even bring a chequebook! My husband said, "can we not bring the housekeys?" Knowing very well we were doing the handover, how could any landlord NOT bring money for security deposit or cheques?


So they said they woudl pay us on Nov 5, in which I made them sign an agreement. Stupid me, i did not include a clause saying "if they don't pay..." what the circumstances would be. We were reluctant even with this, but the property agent was the witness to all of this & he said that "as grown adults, they will not cheat you & will honor this.."


Of course, we did not get our deposit back on 5th, so we called them 3x, wife says it's not her business, husband says wife is handling... by Nov 7th, they outright said they would not pay us & even taunted us by saying "what are you going to do about it??" After consulting with some friends, they advised us that we were technically still the tenants since the 'transaction" did not take place because they did not return our deposit.


So, we proceeded to change the lock (we had one extra set of keys which we forgot about). 2 days later, they called police & claimed theft of their lock. We proceeded to the police station & wanted to sue them for breaking into the apt, which technically should still be ours?


My questions are:

- are we legally still the tenants if they did not abide by the agreement to return deposit?

- do they have a case against us?

- how do we go file complaint against the property agent for being biased & not honoring his part as the 'witness'


My husband & I have spent sleepless nights on this because this landlady & her so-called husband are extremely unreasonable people. If they did the honorable thing by paying us our deposit on Nov 5, this would not have happened.


We appreciate any help/advice...

If you have a break clause in your 2nd year,you can give notice of early termination,as per the notice period required in your lease agreement.Your landlady has to return the deposit within a reasonable time,usually a month or else you can sue her in the Small Claims Tribunal.