H
hoserama99
Guest
What is the name of your state? Texas
Our lease for a house in Austin, TX recently ended on 2/28/03 and we moved out-of-state to a new home in Arizona. We had given written and verbal 30-day notice to move out when our lease was up at the end of February back in late November. In early February, we provided our then-landlady with our new address and phone numbers in Arizona. So far so good.
Starting in eary April, we started sending e-mails and leaving voicemails for our ex-landlady enquiring about a refund of our security deposit.
These went unanswered until early May, when she notified us that the check had been mailed in mid-April and we should have received it already. If not, let her know and she'd cancel and re-mail. We did just that, and waited 2 weeks. No check, so we started e-mailing and phoning again. We eventually got an e-mail that she was changing e-mail addresses and phone numbers, but never received news of her new contact information, and further calls to her work phone went unanswered.
From what I can tell of Texas landlord-tenant law, she was obligated to either send us an itemized list of deductions or a check for the remainder of the security deposit after 30 days. If not, she is subject to penalties amounting to rougjly 3x the full amount of the security deposit. The case seems pretty weighted in our favor, and given a deafening lack of response from her, we have notified her via the only means we currently have - voicemail at her work # - that we intend to file a civil suit if we do not hear from her in 14 days.
This is where we need advice. We live 1000 miles away, and I have an expectation that we'll need to fly back out to Texas for our court date. Is that right? Also, how would I go about finding an accurate address for our landlady so that she will be served properly?
Furthermore, how common would it be for someone in our situation (assuming that what I've written above is wholly complete and accurate) to retain a lawyer, and what would a reasonable fee be for a similar case, assuming it's open-and-shut? If we retained a lawyer, would we have to be present in Texas?
Our lease for a house in Austin, TX recently ended on 2/28/03 and we moved out-of-state to a new home in Arizona. We had given written and verbal 30-day notice to move out when our lease was up at the end of February back in late November. In early February, we provided our then-landlady with our new address and phone numbers in Arizona. So far so good.
Starting in eary April, we started sending e-mails and leaving voicemails for our ex-landlady enquiring about a refund of our security deposit.
These went unanswered until early May, when she notified us that the check had been mailed in mid-April and we should have received it already. If not, let her know and she'd cancel and re-mail. We did just that, and waited 2 weeks. No check, so we started e-mailing and phoning again. We eventually got an e-mail that she was changing e-mail addresses and phone numbers, but never received news of her new contact information, and further calls to her work phone went unanswered.
From what I can tell of Texas landlord-tenant law, she was obligated to either send us an itemized list of deductions or a check for the remainder of the security deposit after 30 days. If not, she is subject to penalties amounting to rougjly 3x the full amount of the security deposit. The case seems pretty weighted in our favor, and given a deafening lack of response from her, we have notified her via the only means we currently have - voicemail at her work # - that we intend to file a civil suit if we do not hear from her in 14 days.
This is where we need advice. We live 1000 miles away, and I have an expectation that we'll need to fly back out to Texas for our court date. Is that right? Also, how would I go about finding an accurate address for our landlady so that she will be served properly?
Furthermore, how common would it be for someone in our situation (assuming that what I've written above is wholly complete and accurate) to retain a lawyer, and what would a reasonable fee be for a similar case, assuming it's open-and-shut? If we retained a lawyer, would we have to be present in Texas?