Unless your written lease said that holding over beyond the lease term renewed the lease for another year, you had a month-to-month lease. Landlord is completely and totally wrong. It's your lucky day! Statute says you get triple your deposit back + attorney fees! Since landlord relied exclusively on the one year lease reason to withhold deposit, she can't now go back and claim you did damage to the apt.
Point all this out, offer to settle for double your deposit back, and watch how fast landlord writes you a check!
Hope this is helpful,
Tracey
*** GEORGIA CODE SECTION *** 10/15/99
44-7-2.
(a) Contracts creating the relationship of landlord and tenant for any time not exceeding one year may be by parol. (oral contracts)
44-7-6.
Where no time is specified for the termination of a tenancy, the law construes it to be a tenancy at will.
44-7-35.
(a) A landlord shall not be entitled to retain any portion of a security deposit if the security deposit was not deposited in an escrow account in accordance with Code Section 44-7-31 or a surety bond was not posted in accordance with Code Section 44-7-32 and if the initial and final damage lists required by Code Section 44-7-33 are not made and provided to the tenant.
(b) The failure of a landlord to provide each of the written statements within the time periods specified in Code Sections 44-7-33 and 44-7-34 shall work a forfeiture of all his rights to withhold any portion of the security deposit or to bring an action against the tenant for damages to the premises.
(c) Any landlord who fails to return any part of a security deposit which is required to be returned to a tenant pursuant to this article shall be liable to the tenant in the amount of three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees; provided, however, that the landlord shall be liable only for the sum erroneously withheld if the landlord shows by the preponderance of the evidence that the withholding was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error which occurred in spite of the existence of procedures reasonably designed to avoid such errors.
44-7-34.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this article, within one month after the termination of the residential lease or the surrender and acceptance of the premises, whichever occurs last, a landlord shall return to the tenant the full security deposit which was deposited with the landlord by the tenant.
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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.
