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June 2012: After being given the verbal okay by our old landlord, we ended our lease 2 weeks early. The landlord told us he usually gets the security deposits in the mail shortly after the lease ends, and nothing was taken from the deposit for repairs. Our deposit was $850.
Two weeks later in July 2012, having not received our deposit back, we called him and we were told that "they" must have forgotten to mail it, and that it would be in the mail the next day. Over a week later, we called again and were told the same thing. At this point, he decided to stop answering our phone calls, voicemails and texts. We called approximately 8 more times between July 2012-September 2012. In September we informed our ex-landlord that we would be pursing the Attorney General if we did not receive our security deposit. We did file a complaint with the Attorney General (no response) as well as the BBB (no response).
I recently emailed the landlord's wife asking her when we can get this resolved, (since I didn't have his email address) and she responded only by saying if I contact her again she will call the police (umm.. what?)
Do we give up at this point? Is pursuing small claims court even worth it for this amount of money?
Go to the first "sticky" on this forum page and find the link to your state's landlord tenant laws. Or Google, "(your state) landlord tenant laws security deposit". Most states require that the LL return the security deposit within 30 days of quit. Any deductions made from the deposit must be accounted for in writing.
Whatever state you're in, your LL is obviously in default of state law and you should immediately file a suit in Small Claims Court. The cost is minimal and on the face of it yours would appear to be a very simple case to resolve. In some states you can sue for two or three times the amount of the original security deposit and although this is something judges don't often impose, in this case when the LL's wife has told you not to call again, a judge may well look upon this very negatively. Read what your state landlord tenant laws say and then move ahead. Good luck!
PS: Keep as much documentation as possible including a copy of your lease, all emails and text messages, etc.
Thanks for the info. I am worried that we have no pictures of before/after because that seems to be a good thing to have for proof. We just have the lease. Would they pull phone records or anything for small claims?
By the end of 30 days in most states after you left the landlord is supposed to send you a certified letter with either your money or a list of deductions. Since they didn't send one and can't backtrack and have the post office backdate such a certified letter they have no leg to stand on.
Thanks for the info. I am worried that we have no pictures of before/after because that seems to be a good thing to have for proof. We just have the lease. Would they pull phone records or anything for small claims?
Even if you DID have damage, the landlord is required to send you written notice (mail) within X days of you moving out, with a listing of the damage and the associated charge. If you didn't get anything in writing, then they owe you the entire security deposit, and possibly 3x the deposit depending on your state law. Each state has different law as to the # days they have to give you the list of damages and whether they owe just the security deposit or 3x if they don't send you the list on time.
Not all states allow you to sue for 2 or 3X the actual security deposit in case of default and at this point it's not known in which state the OP resides. As noted earlier, even in the small number of states where this IS allowable, it's purely a discretionary judgement.
I'm in upstate New York...I think we will have to try small claims court. It's hard to find much info for NY isn't regarding NYC though.
If (as I suggested earlier) you Google, "New York State landlord tenant laws security deposits" you'll have pages of information to read which all say the same thing relative to NY state laws on this one issue.
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