Another thing is to have available the exact dates of actual move out, the date of the receipt of damages claimed, and the date of response to the damages notification. There are the 14-day and 60-day time limits to keep in mind.
Hello, just wanted to thank you for all the tips! We got a little over half of what we felt we were owed back ($250 back for the door and for another claimed damage that we proved we had written in the initial condition report), but we weren't able to get the $285 for the tub back as my roommate could not find the video, and after a search of my own I did not find a copy on any of my devices. That said, do you think we could sue for noncompliance for the remaining $285 considering they never did actually MAIL us a copy of the damages as the law states is required? I'm almost thinking that it may be better off for us to cut our losses and move on at this point, but I am curious on what you think.
You of course have an option of suing. Whether a legal action is something you want to pursue at this point is a decision that you and your roommate will have to make on your own.
Thanks for pointing that out! I hadn't thought of that or remembered to mention it when we were in the office talking with them today as I think I'd maybe seen that for but forgotten. The only thing they didn't comply with is that they never did mail us a final copy of the invoice. However, of the $535 we were having held hostage, they DID agree to get us $250 of it back as we demonstrated they were damages on our unit condition report we filled out when we first moved in. Do you think it would be worth threatening that legal action for noncompliance (failure to send invoices via First Class Mail) to get the remaining $285 back? I'm almost thinking at this point it may be more worthwhile now to just cut our losses and move on. What do you think?
Thanks for the commentary, and definitely understand your position as I'm not wanting to put you in a position of recommending action either way on that. I guess as I reread the law, I don't believe my roommate ever actually explicitly requested an itemized statement in the mail, and it appears the law requires that to be mailed only on the demand of the tenant, i.e. if they ask for an itemized copy to be mailed to them. Or perhaps they only are required to mail us the moment we question the charges. Not sure which - and I'll need to clarify if my roommate had actually asked for an itemized bill in his previous conversations with them. Am I reading/interpreting this correctly?
The law does say the itemized list should be provided on “demand of tenant” but I am not going to interpret the law. You should ask a lawyer licensed to practice in your area for how the law in that respect has been applied in the State. Perhaps you can use the AZLawHelp link posted earlier to find the answer.
Fair enough - again, don't want to put you in an awkward position or any sort of liability. Gotta love laws that are vaguely open for interpretation like that. I think we'll probably just cut our losses and move on at this point unless we're able to find that video he made during move-in. I'm glad we at least got a good chunk of additional money back. Thanks again, I appreciate all the help.