getting security deposit back?

[juliano]

Sorry if this is long and confusing, but this is a very frustrating situation. Recently, my roommates and I moved out of a house in Kirksville, MO. We were given a list of items to clean in order to get our deposit back. There were six of us, and upon leaving, we stayed at the house and cleaned for one week, making sure that the list was completed. The other day I recieved half of our deposit back from our landlord. He listed several deductions, one of which included "Etc.". I am POSITIVE that the items were cleaned that he claims he had to go back and clean again. Unfortunately, we did not take pictures or have a witness walk through the house. Although there are 6 of us to verify it. I am the only one of the six girls that has lived in the house in previous years. Three years ago, when I lived there, some damage was done to the stair rails. One girl was not given her deposit back that year because he said it was for the damage. Yet, on the list of deductions that I just received in the mail, he charged us AGAIN for the stair rails (which were never fixed from the incident 3 years ago). I have written him 2 letters asking that he expand or give us more detail as to why such deductions were made, and what he specifically did and we did not do. I have not gotten a respone to either letter. Do we have any chance in getting our money back, and, if so, how should we do it? Thank you very much for your time!

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by juliano:
Sorry if this is long and confusing, but this is a very frustrating situation. Recently, my roommates and I moved out of a house in Kirksville, MO. We were given a list of items to clean in order to get our deposit back. There were six of us, and upon leaving, we stayed at the house and cleaned for one week, making sure that the list was completed. The other day I recieved half of our deposit back from our landlord. He listed several deductions, one of which included "Etc.". I am POSITIVE that the items were cleaned that he claims he had to go back and clean again. Unfortunately, we did not take pictures or have a witness walk through the house. Although there are 6 of us to verify it. I am the only one of the six girls that has lived in the house in previous years. Three years ago, when I lived there, some damage was done to the stair rails. One girl was not given her deposit back that year because he said it was for the damage. Yet, on the list of deductions that I just received in the mail, he charged us AGAIN for the stair rails (which were never fixed from the incident 3 years ago). I have written him 2 letters asking that he expand or give us more detail as to why such deductions were made, and what he specifically did and we did not do. I have not gotten a respone to either letter. Do we have any chance in getting our money back, and, if so, how should we do it? Thank you very much for your time!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The landlord can not deduct for the same problem that was never fixed. The landlord must itemize the charges and thus the description of ETC. is not correct as it is vague and not detailed.

 

[Prairielaw]

What the landlord is doing is a lot of BS, excuse my language. If you believe your landlord has unreasonably withheld some of your security deposit, you can take him or her to small claims court to try to get your money back. Sometimes a letter from an attorney will bring immediate action. In fact in sometimes if the deposit is wrongly withheld, you can recover penalties as well.

Please review this article which spells out what you need to do for small claims court:Success in Small Claims Court

You can drop me an e mail and I may be able to send you info on your state's small claims court.

Law on, Kevin




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Kevin O'Keefe
Founder & Fearless Community Leader
Prairielaw.com
"More people helping people with the law than anywhere."

 

[Tracey]

Check out chapters 535 (LT actions) & 441 (LT) for info on how to sue L for you deposit. Security deposit actions are covered in 535.300. My guess is that L has charged you for damages that existed at the start of the lease, for normal wear & tear, & for cleaning L did not or did not need to do. Also, L has to send an itemized list of deductions within 30 days. "Etc." is not part of an itemized list! Sue L in small claims for twice the amount withheld + costs. Take in every witness you can find, including the former tenant who got charged for the railing.

Good luck


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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.