All right.. here's more in my continuing saga with the apartment complex I was staying at.

Brief recap: I put down $150 deposit, $600 pet deposit, of which half was non-refundable. Moved out on April 30. Sent a letter on June 16 asking for the deposit to be sent to me by June 22nd. Sent a demand letter June 28 (certified, etc.) for the deposit and giving them 10 working days to return the deposit.

I got a check in the mail on July 3rd. Just the check, no letter, no indication on the check of what it's for, but I assume it's the return of the security. However, it's for 102.81. And dated June 1, 2007. Now, even given the non-refundable part of the deposit, that's a far cry from the 450 I should be getting! I'm especially concerned because the tenant before me trashed the apartment (the phrase the management used was "how could anyone live like that?"), and they never got around to fixing all the damages from that, and I do NOT want to be held accountable for them.

So, what's my next step? Do I send a letter demanding an accounting? Since they didn't send one with the check, and it's well past the 30 days that the law gives them, should I send back the check and demand they send the whole security deposit back? And if I do that, how does the law consider the non-refundable part of the pet deposit? Threaten them with small claims court or try mediation?

Any advice would be welcome!

One other potential problem: the apartment complex submetered the water, and part of the agreement was that the tenant would get a bill every month and pay the appropriate amount to the apartment office. Now, the complex had changed hands, and that caused an issue with the water company, and in the five months I lived there, I never got a bill. I did get a letter a week or so before I moved out, saying that the bills would be coming out shortly in the future, and that they would be spacing them out so that people could catch up on the past due months.

I am of two minds on this. If they are reasonable, I don't have an issue with paying them. On the other hand, I used what I considered a reasonable amount of water, and if the bill is outrageous, I did not have any feedback to make changes in the next month like I would have if I had been getting the bills monthly. So what are people's thoughts?

Sue 'em. Don't waste any more time trying to talk to them. You have no obligation to make further written demands. Just file a lawsuit and let them try to show the court that they complied with the law. If they never sent you any accounting then they'll have a hard time showing they complied.

If I sue them, should I hold on to the check and not deposit it?

As long as the check doesn't have any notations like "payment in full" or "accord and satisfaction" then you can deposit it. But if it has any notations like that then you should just hold on to it and not deposit it.