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Recently I received the “Statement of Security Deposit” from my former landlord. The LL attempts to charge me for
1. Blind replacement
2. Extra paint (no details have been provided in the letter, just the amount is stated)
3. Water bill (no details have been provided, no dates or meter readings, just the amount is stated)
I believe the charges are unreasonably high if not completely fraudulent: charge for extra-paint is $160, the water charge is roughly 3.5 times higher than our normal monthly charge, and the charge for a very cheap blind that costs $4.88 in the Walmart store is $45.
The LL states in his later that I may to object in writing to his notice, and “If the money is owed to Landlord, it must be paid within 30 days of move-out or it will be turned over to collections.” The interesting thing to notice here is that, I moved out on June 16th, and the date on the Landlord’s letter envelope is Aug 5th. Which means, the LL asked me to pay money within 30 days period of the move-out date in the letter that he sent me much later (48 days later) this move-out date!
As my first step, I would like to dispute those charges. Specifically, I intent to call the LL and ask him for the proof of all charges. My questions:
Am I taking the right course of action?
Is there anything else I could do to protect my rights at this point?
Thank you and I would greatly appreciate your advise.
Your state should have a time limit in which the LL is allowed to deduct for all the damage etc from your security deposit. After that he has to refund your total deposit amount.
If a landlord is a dick, and wants to cheat you out of the security deposit, he pretty much can, and it probably isn't worth the money and time to fight it.
If you can afford the time and money, then you should nail him to the wall, but he's probably used to getting away with it.
Your state should have a time limit in which the LL is allowed to deduct for all the damage etc from your security deposit. After that he has to refund your total deposit amount.
OP, if you go to the first "sticky" on this forum you'll find a link to your state landlord tenant laws where you'll find this information or you can google, "(your state) rental security deposits" and will find links to several sites with the same information.
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