Hello to all,

A little background into my situation, I gave my landlord a letter with my intent to end my lease 60 days prior to the end date as requested, which was August 31. Few days prior to my move-out date I found out that my new apartment would not be ready in time for the original 8/31 date. Knowing this I let the manager know and requested an extension of my lease for another 5 days which now leads me to October 5. On that date I vacated the apartment as agreed upon, returned keys, walked through the apartment with a leasing agent, paid the extra rent for the 5 day stay, and left forwarding address everything that was requested. According to the lease agreement and Georgia Law the landlord has 30 days to send me something stating any claim or return my deposit. I have not received anything from them regarding this. I feel they should have adhered to the time frame set by law, especially with this apartment if you were 1 day late with rent you were hit late fees and expected to pay or else why can't they be held to the same standards. What should be my next step? Am I jumping the gun by worrying about this now?

You lost me on your dates...

So you were supposed to be out Aug. 31, extended until Sept. 5, and now Oct. 5 is the 30 day deadline for them to return your deposit?

You can go a couple of different ways on this...

You can contact them and request your deposit at this time. Written communication would be best. Might as well point out the law on it in your letter.

Or, you can file a case against them in small claims court. In most states there's actually a fairly stiff penalty for the LL not returning the deposit in the time specified - like 2 or 3 times the original deposit, so that's what you could actually ask for in your suit, plus court costs, etc.

Keep in mind that in most states the requirement is that they have it postmarked by the cut-off date, so if they just mailed it by the 5th, chances are you won't have received it yet. Also, check your lease, as well as your state's LL / tenant laws to make SURE that you officially surrendered the apartment back to them correctly. You probably did, if you did a walk-thru, but you just want to make sure that you've got all your I's dotted and T's crossed before you march into court and get shot down on some silly technicality.

There's a copy of your state's LL / tenant laws in a "sticky" at the top of this forum if you don't have the complete code.

**Update**

Called the Apartment Management and they are now saying, management has changed and there will be an indefinite delay. How does this change things for me. The agent I spoke with said this change happened as of last Wednesday. Will this change give them added time to return or are they still under the one month rule?

I found a copy of my lease and it seems very vague when talking about security deposits, here is what it states:

Deposit will be refunded by law but may be applied to any charges due under the lease. The deposit will either be protected by a surety bond on file with the Clerk of Superior court or deposited in 0000*********(Act #) in the Bank Of America.

I find it confusing because that is my old bank account information, and I have long changed over banks. So they will either protect my deposit with there bond or deposit it back into this long closed account? Should there bank information been there in place of mines, telling me where the money will be held? Also if this helps any I gave the deposit in the form of a money order.

Georgia law provides for treble penalties for non-compliance with the one month time frame to return the deposit or an accounting (See O.C.G.A. § 44-7-35 ). So I would file suit immediately. However, the law does state the landlord is not liable if delay was unintentional so the court might accept that as an excuse. However, the landlord would have to prove it was unintentional.

As for as where the deposit, is the landlord was required to inform you where the depoist was being kept. That's what the account listed should be.

So the 3x the amount owed does not apply in Georgia?

Sorry, I didn't look closely enough and revised my answer. I'd hoped I got the revisons in before it was seen.

Thanks for the responses. So should I send them the certified letter wait for a response then start legal? Or start both processes simultaneously? What happens if they send the deposit before the court date or after I send the certified letter?

Hmmm. Do you still live fairly close to the property? Might be worth a face - to - face visit. I'd recommend talking to the property manager, not a leasing agent or receptionist or someone. I'd also take any paperwork along that you have from your walk-thru. It also wouldn't hurt to print out a copy of the LL / tenant law and highlight the appropriate portion. In this situation if you hound them a bit I'll bet you could get it out of them.

Otherwise, if you really want to go after penalties, etc, just file. It kind of depends on what you want.

I agree with Scott about the defense they might have about the not returning it being unintentional, due to the change in management. So, now that you've pointed out their error to them, they can't use that defense.

There, I just talked myself into thinking that you should send them a letter. Do the whole certified thing. Point out the 30 day law, tell them you'll give them another 2 weeks to get it to you, and inform them that if you haven't received it within the 2 weeks you'll have no choice but to file against them in small claims court.

That way if they try to use the "it was unintentional" defense in court you can say, "I understand how that could have happened. But then when I sent them this letter and gave them 2 more weeks to straighten it out it seems like they were intentionally witholding it at that point."

If you do wind up having to file and they then send it, they'll have to also reimburse you for your filing fees. Once they've paid you the new total due, then you'll have to go to the court and sign papers to dismiss the case.

I'm going to show my greedy side here. If I were you I'd roll the dice and file the lawsuit. If you win the lawsuit, you can get 3x your deposit back. If you lose you still get your deposit back and are only out the filing fee.

If you give them more time, you may only get the deposit back, but you save the filing fee.

I think these people know the law and trumped up this management change thing to hold you off from filing a suit. If the change in managers only occurred on 10/1, that means they had 25 of their 30 days to mail it back and I think a judge will see through that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

I'm going to show my greedy side here. If I were you I'd roll the dice and file the lawsuit. If you win the lawsuit, you can get 3x your deposit back. If you lose you still get your deposit back and are only out the filing fee.

If you give them more time, you may only get the deposit back, but you save the filing fee.

I think these people know the law and trumped up this management change thing to hold you off from filing a suit. If the change in managers only occurred on 10/1, that means they had 25 of their 30 days to mail it back and I think a judge will see through that.

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-UPDATE-

After the apartment management received the certified letter, I quickly within maybe 2 days received a check for the original security deposit. I thought this matter was done and gone. Hindsight killed me here, It was odd then that the check was dated October 1st and the postmark date was about 3 weeks later. Maybe they backdated the check or whatever. So I deposited the check promptly and thought nothing of it. Guess What?? Checked my account today come to find out they bounced the check, came back NSF. How mad am I now?? Should I just file the paperwork? And what should I do about my account now being negative. Do you think I should call them and try to reason with them?

Well I will add something for the original, since you extended it into the next month, normally there is no 5 day rent, it would be for a full month, even if you only stayed 5 days, so the date your rental officially would have ended would have been the end of sept not the 5th, since they should be able to hold you liable for the full months rent, thus, to me the deposit would not have had to be returned till Nov 30th.
But that is the way I would see the issue, not your actual move out date but the date the end of the rental period would be.


Now on the NSF checks, I would go to the bank it was written on, and see if it can be cashed in person,

You now have a few options, go in and ask for cash in return for the check so you don't press criminal charges.

Press criminal charges for a NSF check

Sue in civil court for the NSF check.

No, I would file suit and add your bounced check charges to the suit.

That is exactly what Im leaning to do. I will talk to them today and try to get a resolution if not, next step is proceed to the courts for the late deposit return and now the NSF fees. Anybody else believe I should do otherwise?

If you decide to talk to them first, ANY solution NEEDS to include reimbursement for the NSF fees.

Don't bother talking to them at this point. File a case in small claims court for the amount of your security deposit, the returned check charge (plus any other costs you incurred - like if it caused you to bounce a check when theirs came back, etc.), AND I would ask for the additional penalites - a total of 3 times the deposit - allowed by your state law. You may or may not get it, but I'd ask for it in your suit. They can no longer use the "unintentional" agruement for why they didn't return it, so your case is strong. Also, in your filing paperwork write, "and any costs and fees associated with collecting the debt."

You've given them enough chances. Don't waste anymore time talking to them, and at this point you deserve to be compensated for more than just your original deposit, in my opinion. They may contact you after they are served notice of the suit and try to settle it out of court. If they do that I'd tell them you'll drop it for twice the security deposit - otherwise "see ya in court." And demand a cashier's check!