I rented an apartment for two years (one year lease with automatic continuation) in a big apartment complex in Pennsylvania. The terms of my lease were for a non-refundable "move-in fee" of $500, along with a security deposit of $580.

16 months into living there, my apartment was flooded due to a washing machine overflow in the apartment above mine. Most of my apartment was under about 2 inches of water. The maintenance staff cut up portions of the carpet, left industrial fans in the apartment for 3 days to dry everything out, and replaced parts of the padding but simply re-stapled the original carpet on top. The carpet in the master bedroom closet was also removed by maintenance and never replaced. Every other apartment in our quad had new washing machines installed within the previous six months except for the one that overflowed and caused the flood. I found out later that management was never made aware of the incident. I had a verbal conversation with the manager about it and also mentioned it in the letter I sent to notify that I was leaving upon expiration of the lease (and delivered before 60 days of expiration, as per lease terms).

After moving out, I received a letter (within 30 days) about the security deposit. They were deducting $100 for cleaning (which I do not dispute) and $1300 for carpet replacement, meaning I actually owe them $820. I immediately sent a certified letter back explaining that any carpet damage was not my fault (due to the flood). I also said that I expected full return of the security deposit (minus the $100 for cleaning) by 10/30/08, as per lease terms of return within 30 days.

I sent that letter to them more than a month ago and have not heard anything back. I lost the pictures from the flood but I have at least 4 witnesses willing to testify.

Do I have a case here?
How do I go about filing the case? I have the paperwork from the district court but I'm not sure what to write other than "Return of Security Deposit". Also, I'm not sure if I can sue them for double because I didn't receive my money within 30 days.

I don't have the money for a lawyer and I haven't been able to find anything online regarding actual laws or statutes that were broken. Any help is appreciated.

Photos would have been better, but sounds like a pretty good case

Anybody else?

Why did you assume that the management knew about your problem without informing them? If your apartment was under 2" of water and they had to use industrial fans to dry out your apartment I'm rather suspect that they did indeed know about it and are just taking the "we didn't know about it" route to get out of paying. You already paid a $500 non refundable deposit. You would only be entitled to the $500 minus the $100 for cleaning. So you should receive the $400 back. Too bad you lost the photos as that would have made your case a slam dunk on your part of winning. The fact they reused the carpet after being that wet sounds like the place could now be Mildew City as well if no properly treated after the flood.

Just wondering. Who did you tell that your apt was flooded? Maintenance or the manager?

Who paid for the initial repair after the flooding? Homeowner's insurance(if there was any) should have covered it, which means the owner knew about it.