Rent security deposit

[Backroads]

So... if one does all stated to receive a security deposit back for a rental home... and finds oneself leaving message after message on landlord's answering machine when check-out time comes round... and winds up leaving keys with landlord's daughter-in-law because Husband has to leave the state... and one continues to try to contact landlord regarding security deposit with no response... what does one do?

[annewandering]

take to small claims court. We have managed apartment buildings and some landlords will not return security deposits without being forced to do so. They will make up excuses. Anything to avoid paying. Hiding from former tenants as well. They figure you wont bother to come after them.

Edited May 13, 2013 by annewandering

[Jennarator]

I gave up when it happened to me...my guess is that what your landlord is hoping you do.

[Dravin]

Another possibility to small claims court is a scary-gram from a lawyer, the effectiveness is variable though.

Edited May 13, 2013 by Dravin

[Backroads]

Another possibility to small claims court is a scary-gram from a lawyer, the effectiveness is variable though.

A scary-gram from a lawyer worked several years' ago on my sister's boyfriend's Ebay problem... handy having a lawyer in the YM presidency.

[annewandering]

A scary-gram from a lawyer worked several years' ago on my sister's boyfriend's Ebay problem... handy having a lawyer in the YM presidency.

Excellent. Just make sure they know you are not dropping it.

[mdfxdb]

how long has it been? State laws vary. Some states give a landlord 21 days in which to return the deposit.

[dahlia]

My landlord has 30 days. I bet I'll get it at 12 midnight on the 30th day.

[Suzie]

Call JAG but he charges by every letter he types...like most lawyers.

[Just_A_Guy]

I also charge for the time spent thinking about the letter before I write it.

And this post counts.

(Seriously, yeah; small claims court is a good idea. I'd skip the lawyer, unless I could find someone to do it for a very reduced rate--my guess is that your deposit isn't big enough to be worth the legal fees. I'd probably write my own letter just saying politely that I'm considering filing a small claims action if I don't get a response; and I'd send that letter certified mail (keeping a copy, of course). If you're in Utah, you can learn everything you need to know about small claims court here.

What I see a lot in this kind of thing is a landlord who comes back saying the tenant somehow caused damage to the premises; and it's always helpful for a tenant to have pictures--or at least witnesses--who can document the condition in which the apartment was vacated.

Usual disclaimer: this is not "legal advice", it is a preliminary guess based on limited information, we have no enforceable attorney/client privilege, blah, blah, blah. )

Edited May 14, 2013 by Just_A_Guy

[Backroads]

Well, at 2 and a half weeks he returned my call last night to ask where to send the check and apologize for not getting back to me. We chatted about his upcoming new grandbaby.

So... never mind this thread.

[pam]

He must have read this thread.

[Backroads]

I'm wondering. That, or the fact I was chatting with his DiL yesterday.

[RipplecutBuddha]

So now that the OP's problem has been solved, a thread hijack about bad landlords. I only had one, and he was just lazy. Good guy, just lazy. Three of us had rented half a duplex, and soon after we moved in, a water leak came up that dripped into the basement. It wasn't in our way, but we wanted it fixed. Long story short, it was constantly dripping and the Landlord was constantly saying "I'll get on it in a couple days, if not by next week." This went on for four months.

We even agreed to redo the kitchen if we could get a reduced rent, which he agreed to immediately. Still the leak was not fixed. So finally, after one roommate had been the primary contact in all this, I said "Look, I'm gonna get this fixed today."

I called the Landlord and asked him *again* to have a plumber come fix the leak. He gave his usual line to me. I replied "Okay, well it's been four months and this duplex has a new kitchen in it. I'm sure you're too busy to address this, so I'll just call a plumber from the phone book and have him bill you, okay?" Then I hung up.

Ten minutes later the Landlord's contracted plumber came in, saw the leak in the basement, went up to the bathroom, and cut a six inch by six inch hole next to the toilet. Right there was the leak, a bad pipe. He grabbed it and his thumb went right through it!. Ten minutes later he had a new pipe in place, the hole patched and spackled.

Even though we're supposed to be forgiving and all, sometimes you need to push peoples buttons to get them to do the right thing.

Oh, and we got our full deposit back when we moved out too. :)

[talisyn]

Landlords ><

We had a hot water leak in the bathroom since October, told the landlord about it every week or so, and it didn't get fixed until February. By which time there was mold on the ceiling and walls from condensation despite all the bleach we could throw at it. So maint. guys finally came in to check it out in March, found mold in the ceiling, and proceeded to tell us this wouldn't have happened if we cleaned our trailer. So they took out a lot of the ceiling, redid the bathroom, and we were without water and toilet for only 9 days

Disclaimer: the landlord had serious illness that ended in his death recently so I don't completely blame him. But how does a sink of dirty dishes equal mold in the rafters of the bathroom? And how did the maint. guy even see the sink if he came in the house through the back door?

Oh, and they never did cut out an opening for the swamp cooler, so in these 80'+ temps we have a perfectly good swamp cooler on top of a perfectly good, hole-less roof. gah. I need some ice cream before I get really mad again.

Edited May 15, 2013 by talisyn

[Iggy]

Yet another

Have a situation with the owner of the Mobil Home park where I live. We own the house and rent the lot. The *landlord* pays for the water. There are only 11 homes here, and my home is the newest (1993).

The landlord hadn't deposited the lot rent checks for 4 months. I pay via ePay. The money comes out of my account. The checks are only good for 90 days. If it isn't deposited/cashed within that time, the bank voids the check and deposits the money back into my account.

That is how I found out he hadn't deposited my checks. My account showed a deposit I hadn't made.

I went to the neighbors and asked if their checks had been cashed. Turns out he hadn't cashed all of ours. One other neighbor pays via ePay also, two elderly couples pay via Money Orders and two younger couples pay with MO, the rest pay by personal check. All of us have not received a receipt for 9 months to a years worth of rent checks.

I called him on the phone, and he told me he was waiting for one more check to come in before he went to the bank. Three weeks later, he still hadn't deposited them, so I called him again. He said the same thing. I told him that checks have an expiration date. Some were void after 90 days, some after 180 days. I lied and told him that Money Orders voided after 90 days (I have no idea when they really do, but I know that 4 of the renters pay with MO.)

Three days later, Hubby sees him scrambling around inside of his pickup - going through all of the papers, food containers, trash.

Every day after that for a week I check my account. Finally - he deposits the checks. He only sends receipts AFTER he deposits the checks. I changed the mailing address of his ePay check. It now comes to me, I take it to him and wait on his doorstep for the receipt. Ticks him off, but I really don't care. I went through all of my receipts from him and I am missing an entire years worth.

This man is 58 years old, and he doesn't deposit $8,400.00 worth of rent checks?? I got a glimpse of inside his house - he is a hoarder! There is paper, unopened mail & UPS and FedEX deliveries, shopping bags of items that are waist high! The spider webs in his windows are so thick that they look like curtains.

Two of my checks hit 90 days, so he is out $600.00. IF he decides to ask for new checks to cover them, I am not writing him replacement checks until I have the voided checks, AND it will be ePay and not personal checks.

At first we all thought that maybe he had caught the nasty flu bug that went around. Hubby and I were down with it for nearly a month! But after seeing the mess in his house - I am wondering if he is senile?? I knew this man when I lived here before Hubby and I married. He was neat as a pin, his Mother complained that he was a neat freak and she couldn't stand to have him around. He would take her coffee cup and wash it before she was even through with it. She was so happy when he finally moved into his own home.

There isn't much we can do. His siblings live down the street from him, but they haven't talked since his father passed away 15 years ago. Perhaps when the grass gets so high you can't see the house, they just may go knock on his door. IF they can get to it through all of the forgotten groceries in bags, unopened bulk mail and UPS deliveries and the bags and bags of house hold items left there in the enclosed porch. I saw Wal Mart bags with towels, laundry soap, new clothes hangers.