No proof of letter sent, return of deposit?

[FarmerJ]

You wrote >They claim I owe damages, I claim I don't< which is why the LL should have taken you to court , a Bill collection agency can try to collect on any claim they get BUT to force payment a judgment is a must , with out one how is the collection agency to prove you do ? SO until you tell them to produce a copy of a court awarded judgment against you they only have a unproven claim.

 

[owlyoudoing]

The new address was given in writing. I did take lots of pictures of the condition the property was in when I left. I vaguely remember taking a video of a couple areas where I couldn't get decent pictures. I'll have to double check though and make sure I actually did.

FarmerJ, so before going to collections it would have had to go through court? I thought the collections agency would take it to court. I've not really gone through this before though so I might have that backwards. I'll try calling the courts tomorrow and see if it's something they can tell me over the phone (if a judgement was put against me). I can't get there in person unfortunately.

Thank you all for the help. I guess at this point I just wait and see what happens, if they take it to court, etc. i'm sure the collection agency doesn't give a damn about the pictures I have.

 

[GideonEffect]

Colorado's law only says that a written notice must be mailed. Their testimony that this was handled in the normal course of there business should be enough to show that it was mailed. Joe Crandall's suggestion that you obtain a copy of the statement is valid, but you can ignore his advice that you can claim treble damages in this case. The LL has already told you that the statement was mailed and that you still owe money, and they will testify to that in court.

Did you provide the landlord your forwarding address when you moved? If not, then the LL could have met the legal requirements by simply sending it to your last known address (the unit you were renting.)

See https://tinyurl.com/yc5aq46s for Colorado's security deposit law.

If it means that much to you, make the landlord prove he mailed it. The original letter in the original envelope still sealed inside, needs to be stamped with a date certain that would be in the proper time frame. And the address he sent it to must be an address that he reasonably can show as a probable address, that you did live at, regardless if past or present.

And yeah, there is dishonesty in Colorado Courts, probably in all courts. We cannot change that.

C.R.S. 13-21-102 (1)(a) In all civil actions in which damages are assessed by a jury for a wrong done to the person or to personal or real property, and the injury complained of is attended by circumstances of fraud, malice, or willful and wanton conduct, the jury, in addition to the actual damages sustained by such party, may award him reasonable exemplary damages. The amount of such reasonable exemplary damages shall not exceed an amount which is equal to the amount of the actual damages awarded to the injured party. . . (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the court may increase any award of exemplary damages, to a sum not to exceed three times the amount of actual damages, if it is shown that: . . .(b) The defendant has acted in a willful and wanton manner during the pendency of the action in a manner which has further aggravated the damages of the plaintiff when the defendant knew or should have known such action would produce aggravation.

 

[HRZ]

OP claims to have provided LL with new address . OP claims to have good pictures of final condition.

OP , exercise your rights to sue LL in court and seek triple damages.

THis will boil down to a credibility test...so be careful to maintain credibility

IF the LL severely fudged the final condition and claimed damages which did not exist or claimed them for mere matters of wear and tear ....the judge might not believe LL who makes an unsupported statement that he mailed a timely response.

Personally, as a LL, I used some proof of mailing , just in case

You might seriously consider use of an attorney...the attorney should be far more skilled at destruction of LLs credibility on witness stand than you are.

You have a clear right to confront your LL in Court

 

[reenzz]

OP wants proof that letter was sent. Can OP prove that forwarding address was given?

 

[Zigner]

OP wants proof that letter was sent. Can OP prove that forwarding address was given?

It's the whole goose/gander thing

 

[owlyoudoing]

I sent the new address certified mail. Sadly, of course, I can't prove what was in the envelope. But I can prove I did mail something at the completion of the lease.

I will look into finding a lawyer. Depending on cost though it might not be something I can do all my money has been going to medical bills. I'm a bit strapped.

 

[Zigner]

I sent the new address certified mail. Sadly, of course, I can't prove what was in the envelope. But I can prove I did mail something at the completion of the lease.

Ok, then that's not really a hurdle. Now, if the other party can credibly show that they sent it (and proof of their normal business practices is generally considered credible, absent some other factor), then you're right back at square one.

Look. There are really only a limited number of options here for you:

• You can pay it.
• You can ignore it until they sue you.
• You can tell them to sue you.
• You can sue them.

Now it's time to decide how you want to handle it.

 

[owlyoudoing]

Thank you. I will have to try and get a consult with a lawyer and figure out where to go from here. If I can't find one I can afford then I guess it'll just be time to wait for them to sue me and hope the judge will see the truth. I highly highly doubt the landlord has a returned envelope but we'll see in time.

 

[Zigner]

Thank you. I will have to try and get a consult with a lawyer and figure out where to go from here. If I can't find one I can afford then I guess it'll just be time to wait for them to sue me and hope the judge will see the truth. I highly highly doubt the landlord has a returned envelope but we'll see in time.

He doesn't need a returned envelope.

 

[owlyoudoing]

No I get that I just mean that some people were saying the landlord might have something like that. I am just doubting it.

 

[paddywakk]

Just because you didn't get it doesn't mean it wasn't sent. Didn't you ever send anything that got lost in the mail?

 

[Zigner]

One other thing to keep in mind is that asking for the statement now doesn't change your rights to collect your deposit and any possible punitive amounts in court.

 

[owlyoudoing]

Oh definitely and I'm not saying that there is a 0% chance they sent something. I just doubt it. Beyond that though looking over the list the collections agency provided I also can't see how the landlord is even trying to charge me for some of these things.

Carpet cleaning - I cleaned the carpets myself before leaving, there were no spots or stains. I have pictures.
New paint - I lived there for about 3 years and the paint job was crap before I even moved in. It looked just the same when I left.
Mini blinds - There were no damages to any of the blinds and I cleaned them before leaving.
And so on.

I'm going to take today and try to calm down because I am so worked up and angry I have given myself a migraine. Then tomorrow I will try to find a lawyer.