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Security deposit refund
On October 23, 2007, my family moved into a 1/2 house, owned by an 80 year old lady and managed by her sons. We paid the security deposit and first months rent, as required by the lease. At the beginning of October, 2008, we gave a 30 day notice and promised to be out before the 22nd, paying the October rent (she needed it for insurance).
During our year there, we did many fix ups on the old house, ourselves. They appreciated that we did not contact them every time something happened, but fixed it and let them know about it. The house was left in better condition, when we left, than when we moved in. Also, when we moved in, there was only 125 gallons of heating oil. When it was time to move out there was over 1000 gallons. We were informed that they did not have the money to repay us, so we had the oil company come back out and remove all but 150 gallons (leaving them more than what we had at days 1), and refunding us that way. Now we're at November 11th, 2008, and we've heard nothing from them about the security deposit, except that they aren't sure they can pay us back. Friends have told us there's a letter we should have received, from the landlord, when we moved out. In it would be the details of when the security deposit would be returned. We've received no such letter. We've also been told that if we don't receive it within a certain amount of time, we should get double. That's not our objective! Just to get what we paid would make us happy. What is the rule, in Pennsylvania, when it involves a security deposit? I reviewed our original lease and there was nothing about the refund, only what was expected at the beginning of the lease. |
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In Pennsylvania the landlord has 30 days after you've moved out to send you either the entire deposit, or a written, detailed accounting of how the deposit was used. If you haven't received either within 30 days then you can file a lawsuit in small claims court. If the judge determines that the landlord wrongfully withheld the deposit then they may award you double the amount. However the landlord has no obligation to pay you back double unless a judge awards it.
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