I am a med student who rented an apartment in Galveston Tx in August. Prepaid my rent until January 2009. Hurricane Ike came through and severely damaged the property. On Oct 7th I received written notice from the manager exercising their rights to terminate the lease secondary to the natural disaster - had to be out by October 11th. I removed all belongings as requested and asked in writing to the management of the complex to return all prepaid rents and deposit. At first they said no problem, but now they are not returning calls and "don't know what corporate will do". I have asked for the contact number for corporate and not been given the information - it is not on the lease. My letter was sent certified mail to the apartment office address and has been received. What steps do I need to take to get reimbursed and how do I find the corporate number?

Ask what corporate's phone number and address is. If they won't tell you, then you can contact the folks down at the local recorder's office to see just who is the registered owner of that particular property. It's public information.

Yeah, with the internet it shouldn't be too hard to track down a management company's corporate office. Is it a TAA lease? If so, contact the Texas Apartment Association and tell them you need to file a complaint about one of their members. They may (or may not) intervene on your behalf, or at least have a procedure. I'm sure this is happening all over the place down there.