I'm currently having fun with my last landlord on getting the security deposit back. I'm about to send my second demand letter, and the advice I see is to send it certified mail, return receipt. Is that really a better option than hand-delivering it to the office? It's not that far away, and I'm not sure which would be better if I have to take this to court: being able to say that I gave it to the person in the office who swore she'd put in on the manager's desk, or a return receipt which shows it got to the complex, but not necessarily that it got to the right person. Thoughts?

Rebecca

You see, the court is looking for proof of delivery, if you personally deliver it, it is your word against the landlord. If you send it Cert RRR then it can be deemed a legal document and there is no discrepency as to whether it was delivered, to whom it was delivered, etc.

Cert RRR are legal documents in every law firm and court that I have worked with in over 15 years.

J9 is exactly right. (Sorry, I had to spread it around some.) The only thing I would add is that you should send it by certified mail, rrr AND by regular mail. That's because if the cert. mail is refused but the regular mail does not get returned, then the court rules that the regular mail was delivered and thus notice was given. So I always send notices by both regular and certified.

Oh, Geez, Lisa I got the spread it message also... but this is how we addressed our letters and envelopes

V I A
First Class Mail
-A N D-
Certified Return Receipt Requested

All correspondence was addressed and sent this way on the letterhead and the envelope. That way there were no questions either way.

Same here. Under my signature and the cc's I always put "Sent via regular mail and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested".