Noula Panagakos    |    Lewes    ,    Delaware 19958    Landlord Complaint 20-1170

I moved into rental house on Feb. 1, 2008; signing a 1-yr lease provided by Coldwell Banker Real Estate and provided a 2-month security deposit of $3,000. For info - the only lease I ever signed states that after one year the rent goes month to month with either party able to terminate with 30-days notice. I renewed my tenancy via email for a year in Feb. 2009. In Jan. 2010 I emailed that I would stay through Feb .2011. Though I did not specify Feb. 1 in this email, I assumed that since that was date of original lease, it was clear that I was referencing that date and not the end of Feb. which becomes relevant later in this summary. My situation changed and on Oct. 26, 2010, I notified my landlord that I would be moving out on or about Dec. 1 and moving back to a house that I own. I asked her specifically in my email "how much notice she would need/want for me to vacate". She responded via email that "Dec. 1 was fine as this gave her time to have work done on the house before holidays and to find a new tenant for the start of the year." On Dec. 1st, 2010, I vacated the premises and turned the keys over to the landlord's agent (landlord lives in another state) and a workman arrived to begin work on house. Her agent told me that someone was coming to look at the house on Dec. 3, so that was why the work needed to be started so quickly. I enquired via email in mid-Dec. about the landlord's schedule to conduct a walk through and the return of the security deposit. She responded via email that she had done a walk through and the "house was fine" but she was keeping the security deposit because in January 2010 (via my email referenced above), I had agreed to another year's rental. I responded via email that my earlier email of Oct. 26 specifically asked her how much notice she would need/want and she had said Dec. 1 was fine. She had also agreed in an email on Nov. 28 to get the utilities turned over to her name (I called utility company today as I recently rec'd a bill for rental property's Dec. utilities and was told that an application to take over the utilities has recently been filed but couldn''t tell me wheter it was by the landlord or a new tenant. Does she have the right to keep the 2-months security deposit for December and January rent, ank she tells me I owe her another month's rent for February 2011 since my email of January 2010 said" i would nenew "through" February 2011?