RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Deposit Refund

Security Deposit Refund Complaint

Kyle — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 09:52:47 +0000

How to Get Your Security Deposit Back

No matter what kind of apartment or rental house you lease; you’re always going to be forced to come up with a security deposit ranging from a few hundred dollars up to a couple of months worth of rent. The purpose of paying the money is to protect the rental unit from damage or abuse. But, it seems many landlords find ways to keep your deposit when they shouldn’t. Luckily, you have some renters rights when it comes to deposit refund.

#1 Rule: Your Landlord Can’t Keep Your Deposit unless…

You agreed the deposit is non-refundable. (Very Rare)
You left the apartment damaged beyond normal wear and tear. (Think holes in carpet, broken tiles, etc)
You owe a balance for unpaid rent.

If any of the above scenarios meet your situation you are still entiled to a refund for any unused portion. For example if you paid a deposit of $300 and owed $200 in back rent; your landlord is still required to refund $100. If you left damage beyond normal wear and tear; the landlord can only charge you for the cost to repair the damage and will be required to refund the rest.

Did you know, you can file a Security Deposit Refund Complaint?

The Rental Protection Agency complaint center handles deposit refund complaints for all 50 states. This process is painless for tenants and will usually result in an immediate refund of your deposit. Landlords know they are required by law to comply with deposit statutes that force them to refund apartment deposits. Filing a complaint with the RPA is a simple way to get your landlord to refund your deposit. Its your right to get it back.

How to file a complaint to get your deposit back:

Go to the RPA Complaint center: http://www.rentalprotectionagency.com/deposit-refund-complaint
Fill out the deposit complaint form
(Note: Don’t forget; on the complaint form request that your landlord reimburse you for the $35 filing fee)
Get Your Case Number
(Track the status of the complaint / get your deposit refunded)

Filing a complaint is a simple way to fight for your deposit back. Some landlords will try to intimidate or convince tenants that their deposit is not going to be refunded due to bogus or unethical charges. As a tenant you have rights. The RPA will work to help protect those rights to see that your deposit is refunded.

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Never moved in but won’t return security deposit!

Tenant — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:17:52 +0000

My husband and I decided we needed to move across town to make commuting to work easier. We put in our 30 day notice and began to look for a new apartment.

I found an add for a town home and called the owner who set up an appointment the same day for us to see them. My husband and I really hit it off with the apartment manager who lived in the complex. She was such a sweetheart and before we knew it we had been in her office for an hour talking! She even filled us in on their secret way of rating applicants on their applications and told us she gave us a A+. She let us know we were definitely approved. We verbally agreed on the deposit, rent and pro-rate and when each would be due. I know now we should have had her write it down at that time. She said she would hold the apartment for 2 ½ weeks (when our 30 days were over at our other apartment) all we needed to do was give them the security deposit ahead of time.

We came in the next morning with the deposit. She gave us a receipt and we agreed on the move in date. She let us know she would call 5 days prior to our move in with our new address. That way we could set up our PG&E, cable and internet to be transferred. We never heard from her. Since it was the weekend we decided to call on the next business day, Monday (2 day’s before our move in day). An extremely rude man with a very thick accent answered the phone and informed me she no longer worked there. He was hired three days before was the new manager. It took a while for him to understand I was not already a tenant but would be moving in. He finally found our paperwork and told me we needed to pay more on our deposit if we wanted to move in. I was shocked!! I told him the security agreement we had with the manager before him. He told us it didn’t matter and again repeated that he was the new manager. I can’t begin to tell you how upset I was finding out all this only 2 days before we were supposed to move! I told him we needed to speak with the owner to clear all this up but he refused. I was very lucky I still had the owners phone number from earlier in the month. I called him and of course he seemed extremely surprised to hear from me. As our conversation went on he became more rude and confusing. He first told me he had to fire the other manager because she was making decisions and promising tenants things without talking to him. Later after I explained what was going on, he agreed with the new manager. He said we had to pay the extra amount and told me she would have never charged us so little. In other words my husband and I were lying! He was so rude and extremely insulting to me I was in tears after I hung up. My husband called him to try and settle the situation but the owner simply made insults towards me and yelled at my husband. Just a tip for all the owners out there, don’t insult a man’s wife and expect him to be OK with it!!! My husband told him we wanted our deposit back and we were not moving in at which time the owner hung up on my husband! We were in such shock that anyone could act so childish!

We ended up going to the apartment complex. I wrote a letter stating we wanted our security deposit refund and would not move into their complex. I gave the reasons why and explained how rude and unprofessional they had been. I also told him I wanted things settled smoothly but if I had to I would take legal action against him to have our money returned. The letter was faxed over to the owner and we were told our deposit would be sent to us.

2 ½ weeks later and we contacted the manager to check the status. He told us he had no idea what was going on. At that point I e-mailed the owner and have not heard a word since.

I did some research online and found this situation had happened to another individual who had lived in the same complex. They said they were going to take him to court. I’ve been looking up the laws for tenets and security deposits. But I haven’t found anything that would be similar to our situation. I’ve only found information on tenants who are moving out and trying to get their deposit back.

Any helpful ideas??

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Security Deposit not being returned

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 14:12:04 +0000

I had a lease with my former landlord that ended Sep 30, 2007. Before the lease expired, I spoke with him for a short-term extension. He agreed to extend to either March or April 2008 to give me time to find/purchase my own place and that I could sublease the place if I bought sooner than March/April. He was supposed to give me another lease to sign but he forgot to do so. The lease I had with him (the one that expired) stated that if there was no signed lease when that expires, it would revert to a month-to-month lease. Anyway, I was able to purchase and move to my own place in mid-December 2007. Even though we had no signed contract, I honored our agreement and continued to pay the rent until I found another tenant in mid-January. Since I did not have a signed lease by then, we had the new tenant sign a short-term lease with my landlord and give him a security deposit. The landlord inspected the unit and told me everything was in order and he would return my security deposit within 45 days. It’s been several months now and he still has not returned my security deposit (keeps giving one excuse after another). What can I do/what are my options to get my money back?

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Whom should I ask for security deposit refund?

Kenneth — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:13:38 +0000

I recently moved out of an apartment located in Arkansas. I signed my initial rental lease a little over five years ago. I agreed to pay a higher rent in order to have a lease that was month to month. My security deposit was $350 when I signed my lease. After about three years my landlord lost the apartments to the bank. My new landlord purchased the apartments from the bank and agreed to let me continue my month to month lease since I had been such a good renter. Everything went fine until I moved out a couple of weeks ago. I cleaned the apartment and the landlord even said that he wished all renters would leave a place looking as good as mine did. He couldn’t believe it was in such good condition after five years. Well, that was fine up until the point I requested security deposit refund. My current landlord said that I had paid my deposit to the previous landlord and that I would have to get it back from him. My previous landlord stated that he no longer owns the apartments and doesn’t have any intention of giving me my $350. Does anyone know who is responsible for the deposit? I would like to get this money back if it is possible. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

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My landlord wont return my deposit

B.C. — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:05:26 +0000

I’ve been in contact with my former landlords and now they are putting off talking about the deposit. It has been a month since I have moved out and the landlords still claim they need to talk to some people. Although since I last talked to them the husband has had some physical problems and been in the hospital, they have had a month to figure out what charges should be deducted from the deposit. How long should I give them before I become much more presistent?

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Can my Landlord do this?

Tenant — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:01:03 +0000

i paid what was going to be my new landlord on the lease agreement she stated that first months rent and animal deposit was due agust first it is going on the second week and she still has not done any repairs and i found my problems with the house and she never took the rent sign down either since i found worse problems with the house now she refuses to give back my deposit and that i should take her to court is what shes saying

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Unjustified Charges against Security Deposit

Tenant — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:54:47 +0000

My husband is stationed at Ft. Polk, LA. We were renting a home in Rosepine, LA through a local rental broker. We rented the home for 1 year and 1 month. We never had any negative issues with the broker throughout the year and were under the impression that we had a good relationship with the broker. We paid our rent on time every month with the exception of ONE month, September I believe, when due to miscommunication between my husband and I, the rent didn’t get get paid by the fifth. We went out of town and I thought he dropped a check and he thought I dropped a check. We contacted them and notified them of the error and took in a check as soon as we were back in town (one or two days later) and paid the 10% late fee without issue.

We gave them our writen notice to non renew our lease on May 14, 2010. Our lease end date was June 30, 2010. This was ample notification. We did not occupy the home the final month of the lease as we had rented a larger home on a larger lot where the lease began on June 1st. We have no family nearby and no one that could help us move, so ALL the packing, moving, and unpacking was done by my husband and myself. We both work full time, my husband working Saturdays. So this move was a long and drug out process but we did succeed in vacating the home, repainting the walls of my daughter’s room, touching up all nail holes, and throughly cleaning the interior of the home and appliances by June 30. I turned in the keys and garage door opener.

I called the rental office to confirm they received everything and to ask when the inspection would be done to be sure that I didn’t turn off the utilities prior to them going in. I was told that the broker handles the inspection and the deposit and to go ahead and shut the utilities off. So i shut off the utilites a week later. Betwenn my husband and I we called at least 5 times to speak to the broker about the inspection and deposit and he was never available. On July 7th we received a letter and a check from their office. The letter stated that they had deducted $100.00 for cleaning, $80.00 for Lawn mowing, and $125.00 for Pest Treatment for Roach Infestation. I used to work for another Rental agency in the area as the Assistant Rental Manager and performed the final inspection. The legal requirement is brush clean. I went beyond that when I cleaned the home. It was in more than "tenantable condition". The lawn was cut on the day we turned in the keys. The check they stated they wrote to the individual was dated one week after we moved out. This is Louisiana the grass grows exponentially in a day or so! As for the roaches, this is completely false. Never did we have any problem with any roaches. I am TERRIFIED of bugs period! There is no way I would have stayed in a home where there was an "infestation". I called the Pest control company and was told that the person who sprayed the home didn’t even remember spraying it. This is understandable as I’m sure they treat a number of homes per day, however it is reasonable to expect that in the case of an “infestation” a person would have some recollection only a week afterwards. I then spoke with one of the owner’s of the pest control company who stated that no one from his company observed any signs of an infestation. The treatment performed was an interior and exterior “standard treatment” for Smokey Brown cockroaches (not the German Roaches the letter claimed), which he confirmed are very common pests in this area of Louisiana. He also stated that in his opinion there was no evidence that we did anything to cause for the home to need to be treated. He stated simply that the realtor called, specifically requested the service, so they performed it.

Now I think anyone can see that these charges were general upkeep of a home to be listed for rent that a LANDLORD should expect to be responsible for. However, the Rental Agency tacked them on to our Security Deposit.

I wrote a letter outlining the amount disputed and the reasons we disputed them. I gave them 3 days to respond.

My question is…what do we need to do if they do not respond? Does anyone have any experience in this area?

Do we have a valid claim?

No we don’t have any pictures, because naively we believed we had a good relationship with this company and we have NEVER in the 5 years we have been renters of at least 3 other properties been in a situation like this.

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carpet cleaning issue

Tenant — Fri, 13 May 2011 06:15:10 +0000

I recently moved out of a townhome (I live in Virginia by the way). My roomates and I own two dogs which left quite a lot of dog hair on the floor. Otherwise there were no stains. Our lease required that we have the carpets professionally cleaned with proof. We, the renters, vacuumed and swept the floors then paid $275 dollars to have it professionally done and offered our landlord a contact information for the cleaning company. I walked through the place myself to inspect and saw absolutely no dog hair or stains on the floors, which was great since it was extremely hairy. Now my landlord has done a walkthrough and informed my roomates and I that the floors are disgusting and that she is having the floors cleaned again which will come out of our deposite. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the place but I do have proof that our original cleaning was done. I have been told that it is illegal for a landlord to require a cleaning then charge for another. Can anyone help?

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Getting my deposit back…

B.C. — Sat, 07 May 2011 05:39:30 +0000

I lived in a furnished duplex for about a year and a half on a month to month lease. I thought I had a good relationship with the landlord, but now that I’m trying to get my deposit back they are accusing me damages that I had no part in. There were stains in the bathroom when I first moved in that I assumed were some sort of laquer or clear coating (I believed that they had renovated the place), but the landlord is accusing me putting the stains there. Also, since I have left they have washed the sheets and mattress pad and said that while washing them that the sheets turned a reddish brown color and started to have an odor; and the mattress pad dissolved and the same color and odor appeared. What should I do? I didn’t have any part in these issues and the only other people in my place were their repair guy to repair the ceiling and lights damaged during the monsoon season; a cleaning lady that I had come to my place twice (it was a cleaning lady that my landlords told me about); and my parents who were out over Christmas. How should I go about getting my deposit back?

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Landlord refuses to give back entire deposit

Melissa — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:29:32 +0000

My husband an I recently moved out of our apartment into a house that we just purchased.

We never had a lease at the apartment, though the landlord often said he would have us sign one, he never did. When we first moved into the apartment, we found out that the landlord had JUST purchased it (maybe a week prior to us moving in) and he hadn’t even bothered cleaning or making any repairs to the apartment. It hadn’t been lived in for quite some time so it was very dirty and full of bugs and spiders. The faucet in the kitchen didn’t work – there was no hot water and it squirted everywhere. It took him a month to have it repaired. The ceiling in the upstairs 1/2 bath was caving in and it took him a month to have that repaired. The walls were damaged and dinged. The carpets were filthy. The ceiling panels in the bathroom aren’t in the best shape. Also, we never received keys to the apartment. We received one key to the main stairwell, but since the landlord sometimes uses the stairwell (he lives in the apartment below ours) he asked us to keep it unlocked. The landlord also made a harrassing entry into our apartment on the very first evening we lived there. I was showering, husband was out, and daughter was sleeping. All of a sudden, there was a loud banging at the door and he rushed into our apartment while I was in the bathroom, naked without any access to clothes, ranting about some minor leak downstairs. Granted, a leak can be an emergency – but it’s not good to go running into someone’s living space when they are naked and taking a shower! The landlord is never home either – he is a over the road trucker so he is rarely around. This winter, the property was not adequately maintained. The sidewalks were dangerously icy and snow covered. Never once were we told that we needed to take care of any of the snow shoveling. It was so icy, that I didn’t want to leave the house for fear that I’d fall. I ended up having to buy special traction covers for my shoes. Needless to say, our landlord has not been the best.

Now, he has been telling our friend and neighbor that he’s going to withhold some or all of our deposit because the carpets need steam cleaned and because it’s “disgusting” up there. I have no idea what it’s talking about – it was dirtier when we moved in! And we are planning on using our own caroet cleaner to clean the carpets before we leave. I did take before and after photos to prove that it was a mess. What else can I do? Our friend and neighbor said that our landlord told him that he (the landlord) is just irritated because now he’ll have to pay the full mortgage payment on the place and he doesn’t have any potential renters. So I’m sure he’s just doing this out of spite. I just couldn’t stand living there any more – it was unsafe for my daughter and when the landlord was home, he threw loud parties and there were people banging on our door (thinking it was the door to the landlord’s house) at 3 am! I just want my deposit back – I think we deserve it.

Please help!

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