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I'm interested in hearing from how you'd handle it as a tenant and how you'd handle it as a landlord.
Had lived in an apartment (Charlotte, NC) for several (3?) years. Reviewed lease and such when preparing to move out and saw that the security deposit was $769. Cool. Should get a nice little chunk of change a month after move-out. A little less than a month after moving out, we receive a check for $21 and change. The notation on the check said it was a "move-out refund". Wasn't too sure what that meant -- maybe we paid too much for our prorated last month's rent? No other information (such as itemized accounting for deductions) accompanied the check, so I assumed it wasn't for the security deposit.
Eventually, my wife calls and asks what's up. They say it's our security deposit refund -- that we only paid $49 for security deposit. Huh? Double-checked the lease and sure enough, right there on the "Security Deposit" line is "$769.00". So I send an email telling them it's been over thirty days and I haven't received anything other than the mini-check when my lease clearly states the security deposit was $769 and how about you just play nice and send me every penny instead of making me lawyer up? (I didn't word it exactly like that, but that was the general idea). I get an email response that says the $769 was a "typo" and that they have our original lease and documentation that shows the security deposit was only $49. Lolwhut?
So I dig out the original lease. Huh. Yep. I'll be darned -- $49.00 security deposit. The $769 figure appeared on there as the monthly rent, and I'm guessing when making the latest lease someone glanced at the wrong number and boom -- big ol' $720 "typo".
Well? What's your move if you're the tenant? I did not pay $769 for the security deposit but I sure enough have a lease that says I did. I'd like my chances in a courtroom, but the fact is I did not pay the $769.
How would you handle the situation if you're the landlord? You'd probably lose in court, and quite possibly have to pay lawyer fees for both the tenant and yourself. But I did not pay the $769. But I have a lease signed by you that says I did.
Thoughts?
There isn't an attorney around that values their law license who would represent you in this matter. They have a duty to behave ethically, even if you don't want to.
As a tenant, I'd never do this so I can't tell you what I'd do if this was my situation. I'm not a liar, nor am I a thief.
As the landlord, I'd allow you to sue me. Then I'd counter sue you for abuse of process and filing a frivolous lawsuit.
That isn't true. I did not realize the lease was incorrect until they pointed it out and I checked the original lease. Then, agreeing with them, I did nothing more. If they would have let it be, it would have ended right there. But then for reasons only they know, they decided to send me a check anyway. I have no problem with that. You do. So be it. You're entitled to your opinion, just as I'm entitled to disagree with it.
"Eventually, my wife calls and asks what's up. They say it's our security deposit refund -- that we only paid $49 for security deposit. Huh? Double-checked the lease and sure enough, right there on the "Security Deposit" line is "$769.00". So I send an email telling them it's been over thirty days and I haven't received anything other than the mini-check when my lease clearly states the security deposit was $769 and how about you just play nice and send me every penny instead of making me lawyer up? (I didn't word it exactly like that, but that was the general idea). I get an email response that says the $769 was a "typo" and that they have our original lease and documentation that shows the security deposit was only $49."
Your words. Not exactly the definition of doing nothing more, now is it?
You deliberately set out to commit fraud and theft, and you succeeded; congrats, dude. You're a sterling role model to us all
Well, your good fortune then. Just remember to pay it forward when the opportunity arises!
Someone with this set of morals and integrity doesn't do things like pay it forward. Besides, paying it forward would actually involve giving something of yourself to/for someone else.
The saddest part is this couple probably has children and they're probably raising their kids to have this same mindset.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 06-08-2014 at 09:28 AM..
I am not asking how to steal a damned thing. I am asking how you would handle the situation if you were the tenant and this happened and how you would handle it if you were the landlord and made this mistake. Why am I asking this? You really can't come up with any possibilities other than wanting the money? How about curiosity? Intellectual stimulation? Boredom? I enjoy conversation? I thought it was an interesting situation and I know how I handled it and how the landlord handled it and am wondering how others would have?
Frankly, now I'm just starting to wonder if a single person is actually going to answer the original questions or if everyone is just going to jump to conclusions and jump on their soap boxes to down-talk someone who they're making an awful lot of assumptions about. Apparently I'm trying to have a gray area conversation in a black and white forum. My bad.
Forget about it. Small Claims Courts are courts of equity not law. The Judge will simply ask you what you actually paid. If you lie the other side disputes it and you will be asked to produce a receipt or a cancelled check. Most likely you will annoy the judge who will nail you with the court costs.
It is not a winnable situation aside from the busted ethics required to pursue it.
The funny part is that family or friends may look on google and know the story and read how it was a scam. The LL and their family and friends may also look online to see what their rights are and if the numbers for example have typed in this thread may come up.
I would love to see that go down in court since the internet is a marvelous tool to show how people lie and what you find out, in a very easy and short time.
If I were the landlord, I think I would've offered the tenant a settlement -- maybe a couple hundred dollars. As a tenant, I definitely would have taken that and been thrilled with it.
You probably wouldn't have. Offered a settlement for what? A typo? Here's a few hundred dollars you aren't entitled to and for no reason? Heck no.
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I did indeed get what I never paid for. Which I found astounding, hence the attempt at discussion. While I wasn't surprised that the landlord/management company didn't like the idea of going to court I was very surprised they didn't offer to settle it for less. So I wanted to see what a bunch of landlords would do.
There was nothing to go to court over or settle. You never paid $769, you wouldn't be able to prove that you did so you are entitled to exactly ZERO of that amount.
That's exactly what I did. I didn't respond to their email stating it was a "typo". I talked it over with my wife and we decided that although I thought we'd have a good chance of winning, it wouldn't be right since we didn't actually pay the $769.
And then the fun part happened: the next day I got an email from the same person at the office saying they were refunding the $769 that was on the lease. This surprised the hell out of me, but I wasn't going to try to talk them out of it. The check came yesterday and is now sitting comfortably in my bank account.
You are a contradiction. First it wouldn't be right because you didn't actually pay the $769, but now because the management company for some ODD reason sent you a check for the $769 that you didn't pay (with no letter of explanation?), in addition to the $21 refund from the security deposit you actually did pay, it's "right" to keep it even though
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it wouldn't be right because we didn't actually pay the $769
.
The management company forgot to deduct the $21 already paid out to you?
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So I think it's pretty clear that the landlord here thought there was a pretty good chance of losing the case if push came to shove. Either that or what - they just felt bad? I don't know. Don't really care.
I think you think it's pretty clear, but the only thing that really is clear is that your LL would have won in small claims because you would have to prove you paid the $769, and you wouldn't be able to. You'd also be lying under oath if you said you did.
Felt bad for what? What harm came to you over a typo? None.
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Instead it made for an interesting study in jackass know-it-alls passing judgment, most of whom were too busy showing how above it all they were to even bother answering the question.
Dude, you're not entitled to whine about how your loaded question was responded to.
If you were oh-so-sure of yourself and keeping that $769, you wouldn't be oh-so-offended by ANY response.
The only jackasses on this thread are the ones who cashed a $769 check they KNEW they weren't entitled to.
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But it's been a fun way to kill a little time. Thanks for the lols, y'all. And thank you to the few of you who actually answered seriously.
"Eventually, my wife calls and asks what's up. They say it's our security deposit refund -- that we only paid $49 for security deposit. Huh? Double-checked the lease and sure enough, right there on the "Security Deposit" line is "$769.00". So I send an email telling them it's been over thirty days and I haven't received anything other than the mini-check when my lease clearly states the security deposit was $769 and how about you just play nice and send me every penny instead of making me lawyer up? (I didn't word it exactly like that, but that was the general idea). I get an email response that says the $769 was a "typo" and that they have our original lease and documentation that shows the security deposit was only $49."
Your words. Not exactly the definition of doing nothing more, now is it?
You deliberately set out to commit fraud and theft, and you succeeded; congrats, dude. You're a sterling role model to us all
Uh, no, that isn't anywhere near the definition of doing nothing more. What you just quoted was me telling what happened up to the point that I learned the security deposit paid was actually only $49. When I learned that, we decided to accept it and move on. Then, without any more prompting from me, they decided to issue me a check for the typo amount.
Did not set out to commit fraud or theft. Did not commit commit fraud or theft.
You are a contradiction. First it wouldn't be right because you didn't actually pay the $769, but now because the management company for some ODD reason sent you a check for the $769 that you didn't pay (with no letter of explanation?), in addition to the $21 refund from the security deposit you actually did pay, it's "right" to keep it even though .
I don't see the contradiction. I asked for the $769 when I thought that was the correct amount. They explained it was not the correct amount. I decided to accept that. They decided to send me the $769 anyway, knowing it wasn't the amount on the original lease.
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Originally Posted by Sawdustmaker
The management company forgot to deduct the $21 already paid out to you?
Nah, they put a stop on the first check.
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Originally Posted by Sawdustmaker
Dude, you're not entitled to whine about how your loaded question was responded to.
If you were oh-so-sure of yourself and keeping that $769, you wouldn't be oh-so-offended by ANY response.
Not whining, not offended. The responses are pretty much what I was expecting here. I do find it interesting how the responses I get in real life are so completely different than the reactions here.
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Originally Posted by Sawdustmaker
What you did was waste everyone's time.
I don't think discussing the possible ways of handling a situation is a waste of time. And why are you still participating if it's such a waste of time?
You probably wouldn't have. Offered a settlement for what? A typo? Here's a few hundred dollars you aren't entitled to and for no reason? Heck no.
There was nothing to go to court over or settle. You never paid $769, you wouldn't be able to prove that you did so you are entitled to exactly ZERO of that amount.
You have one dumb LL/management company.
Well, at the time I thought it was an open-and-shut case of the lease is the final word as far as proof goes. From what I gather reading this thread that isn't always necessarily the case. So knowing what I know now I may not have offered a settlement as a landlord.
And perhaps they are a dumb ll/management company. Or maybe they and their lawyers know more about this than the rest of us and had reason to believe this was their best play. The way their first reaction was to point out that the $769 was incorrect and then they did a complete about-face and paid it anyway makes me wonder if they know something the rest of us don't. Or yeah, maybe just dumb.
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