4. You expect us to believe any of this crap???
Incredulous definitely, but hostile also a little.
Please note he does say
heck, I have a letter from the guy from 5 years ago saying I had no late payments and that he'd rent to me again
If you can provide that letter a court would probably find your debt null.
Giving somebody a piece of paper (a Check) does not constitute "paying your rent".
Having the person cash the check; now that IS paying your rent!
And while that is true and we agree on the definition of "paid" it is not possible for the payer to force a payee to cash the check. There is actually no way to force someone to take payment, which is why the law exists that should payment be tendered in legal acceptable form and the payment denied the debt is null.
The question is not whether he paid or not (he certainly did not) the question is did he fulfill his repsponsabilities to pay and does he still have responsiblity to pay.
The fact that the deposit is brought up along with rent now 5 years later was explained in that the manager said he would not refund the deposit until the rent checks were cashed. At no point was the OP at a point where he was suffering a financial loss from this situation so it's not surprising he didn't bring it up. If I owe you $10000 and you owe me $100 and you say you won't pay me back until you cash the checks for my $10000 then I am not in a position to make a fuss about it.
And as for your statement about check fraud that is different. I am taking the OPs post as fact. If he is lying about anything then he is just wasting everyones time, but then everyone on here could be lying.
I would assume that the check numbers of alleged checks for payment will fall between checks written for other purposes around the same time. Elsewise yes the manager could file a check fraud lawsuite. If the OP is committing check fraud he has much bigger things to worry about than what we say here.
In Cali the law states if you do not recieve your deposit back in 21 days or an itemized list of deductions along with written explanation as to why the remainder of deposit is being witheld (eg they need to have your carpet fixed by the carpet guy can't make it for 4 weeks) then the owner gives up all rights to the deposit regarldess of condition of the premises when the tenant leaves.
This may be different in other states.