RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Security Deposit

I Want Security Deposit Back From My Landlord

acisej21 — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 02:02:40 +0000

I need some advice so that I can take the right steps with my former landlord. My fiance and I vacated our rental unit after 3 years of renting in a month to month lease, and we had given the landlord a months notice as mandated in Vermont. When we vacated the unit, we cleaned the unit, repaired any damage we had caused, and sent the landlord a letter indicating our hope for the return of our full security deposit. However, I received a notice from him stating that none of our deposit would be returned due to damage to the carpet and pet odor.

It is a very complicated situation, but here are some logistics:

We had a month to month lease in a pet friendly apartment. It can be seen on apartment lease form. When we first moved in we had one cat, which we were allowed to have. Shortly after moving in, we adopted 2 kittens. The Humane Society called our landlord to get permission from him, which he granted. A year later, we adopted a puppy, again with (documented) landlord permission. In the letter the landlord states that we had three cats and a dog which he was unaware of. Obviously, this is inaccurate. He then said we should be lucky that he did not increase the rent on us because we owned these pets.

The first winter we were there, the downstairs flooded. The landlord fixed the foundation in the spring. However, we had serious mold issues arise from the flooding in the hardwood floor. The landlord had an insurance adjuster come appraise the damage, and then told us the floor would be replaced. This was never done, the mold was never removed, and I suffered from severe upper respiratory infections in the following years, which are documented by my primary care physician. In the landlords response letter, he claims that we never wanted the floor replaced as it would be an “inconvenience” to us and WE chose not to move forward with fixing it. This is completely inaccurate; I accrued over $8,000 in medical bills from how sick I was in the three years we lived there.

The upstairs carpet was damaged due to the bedroom door swelling in the summer and catching on the carpet. This occurred in all three rooms in which there was carpet and the doors would swell in the summer. We did not feel we were responsible for replacing the carpet as it was not our fault. In the letter, the landlord indicates that he believes it is from our pets and we will be held responsible for replacing the carpet. He states that he will be keeping out $750 deposit to replace the carpet in the ONE room. I would be more than willing to meet him halfway on the carpet, as we did house train a puppy on them

Additionally, when we first moved in, the driveway was unpaved and very bumpy. The landlord informed us he would be paving it in the spring. Needless to say, three years later the driveway was still not paved. However, a black tarp-like material had been laid down underneath the gravel. When it rained all of the water sat on top of the tarp causing extremely deep pot holes and mud. My fiance has a very low riding Audi, which he bottomed out over and over again on the pot holes in the driveway as there was absolutely no way to avoid them. We ended up having to pay over $6000 to replace a damaged water pump and parts to the exhaust due to damage sustained from bottoming out. We still have to replace other parts as well that were damaged due to bottoming out repeatedly.

Long story short, I would like advice on how to proceed with my landlord. My fiance and I do not feel that it is fair for him to withhold our security deposit and are considering taking him to small claims court though we have a copy of rent receipt which we can easily produce in the court.. We do not expect him to pay my medical bills or for the repairs to the car; we simply want the security deposit back. We feel that our landlord was very negligent, but we want to make sure that we aren’t simply whiny and crazy. The landlord states that we are simply avoiding taking any responsibility for damage in the apartment, which simply is not the case. Any advice would be so extremely appreciated.

Thanks!

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Can my landlord do all of this?

Tenant — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 23:24:58 +0000

In regards to 9812 Ruggles Street and the property of Joey Kruse.
Joey Kruse allowed a vagrant to stay with her and while he did he stole money from me as well as destroyed some of my personal property (my car tailight) She continually brought him back after swearing she wouldn’t. She would drink at night and stay up all night beating on walls Yelling as loud as possible while the vagrant would antaganize her more and more. Some nights I got maybe 2 hours of sleep because of her. The last time he was there she got mad that I was upset he came back and She (Joey Kruse) came down and assaulted me with a rolled up shirt (like a whip) and destroyed a bunch of my property as well.(this includes throwing my antique dishes at me and forcefully removing everything on top of my shelves. She did pay for the damages(Only because I filled a police report) when she sobered up but then she started to come down while I was not home and rearranged my rental area the way she wanted it at least 2 or 3 times.She would also give me eviction notices saying that I broke some rule that didnt exist (per the lease) Only to retract it a few days later after I would spend a few days looking for a new place. She also never gave 24 hour notice and entered my area and my room as she pleased. One day she said there was a water leak and she had to inspect for damages. There was no leak and when I got home she had gone through all of my stuff and stole the lease and documents pertaining to the assault she did to me. Then for the last 2 months I lived there I did not get any mail, one day I went to dump her trash and found bank statements of mine in her trash. I checked the recyclable trash and found 17 letters of mail that were mine which she had thrown away. I had to get a lock for my room door, which being the owner she had to have a key because the breaker was in my room, and she would go in there daily and leave the door open just to tick me off. Upon it snowing, she would wake up at 5am and shovel all her snow on my side of the driveway. She also would intentionally put her trash rite in from of where I parked so I had to get out and move it before pulling in the driveway. She would block my entryway with a trashcan daily. After I found my mail in the trash I told her that it was enough and I was done and wanted my deposit back. She sent me an email telling me to vacate the property within 19days and told meI wasn’t allowed on the property after Feb,28th and that I had to clean and vaccume the place. and that she would have no further contact with me. Upon moving out stuff she would continuesly shut and lock the door everytime we went up or down the stairs making it harder to move stuff out. After I moved stuff and cleaned the place (better than it was when I moved in) I showed up with the key to get my deposit back, and she wouldn’t even come out of her room thus she did not return my $400 deposit. I am glad the Joey Kruse nightmare is finally over but now I have to waste more time and spend more money because I am filling charges for mail fraud and I Need to know how to get my $400 deposit back. -Brent

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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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Deposit refund law

Sophie — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 10:28:34 +0000

My lease expired july 22. It is now September 2 and I have not yet received a letter from my former landlord or a check. As required, I gave them my new forwarding address.

How should i proceed?

thank you

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Landlord not returning deposit

Ben1212 — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:57:02 +0000

Me and my girlfriend recently moved out of a house we were renting in Columbus. We were there for 10months and had to leave our lease early. We had a great relationship with our landlord. He was an out of state landlord and was always very accomodating. Due to his absence in state and the fact we had mutually agreed to annul the lease we helped him out by showing the house to prospective renters. We managed to find people who were willing to move in the next day after we moved out… Ideal. However once we moved out he became very hard to contact and seemingly unwilling to send any documentation to the fact that we had annulled the lease. We knew we would give up the deposit due to leaving the lease early but was expecting a check from him for the 12days we had already paid up for the month. I know its state law that you cannot obtain rent from two parties for the same period regardless of a broken lease.

He eventually sent us the documentation for the annulment of the lease, however he changed the move out date to a month after we actually moved out. We edited the document and scanned it in and returned it to him. Now he has become un contactable. Screening calls and not responding to emails. Unsure of what to do now. Should I contact a lawyer. Does it appear I have a case against him or is this just a learning experience. any help appreciated.

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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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How can I get my deposit back?

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:44:16 +0000

I paid a deposit in Oct. of 2001 when my husband and I moved into our apartment. We moved out Nov. of 2008 and now my landlord has no record of this deposit amount. Additionally, the landlord is charging us for carpet cleaning and new paint for the walls. There is no excessive wear on either – just 7 years of living in the unit. I have two rental agreements that refer to this specific amount as well as the landlord agreeing to use the deposit to help pay for the last month’s rent. The bill is now with a collection agency. I spoke with my bank to obtain a copy of the original deposit check, but they destroy records after 7 years. What do I need to do to get the deposit credit and avoid paying the costs of painting & carpet cleaning?How can I get my deposit back?

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Help with security deposit assistance

Ms. Pierski — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:40:07 +0000

NOTICE: The RPA DOES NOT provide welfare assistance. To get help with rent or desposits you will need to contact your local housing authority and apply for Section 8.

Hello, I want to rent an apartment. The landlord is asking for $1500 to move in. Is there any companies or loan companies that in Chicago,Il that would help with security deposit assistance? pls tell there’s some type of help. I do work but with the monthly bills, I can’t afford to move.

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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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