She did finally pick it up and I got my own notice from her which I picked up today. It included a check for $400 (not the $750 I agreed to take) and a list of the deductions, including things like "toilet seats" (there was nothing wrong with the ones that were there...) and "carpet cleaning" (again, nothing beyond normal wear & tear).  She clearly does not understand the law, even after I included the text of it in my letter, so I guess it's off to small claims court (and I'm not going to agree to allow ANY deductions at this point).  I thought this would be more cut and dried since the law is the law, after all, right?

If you are taking her to court, if I were you, I would't cash the check.  That could be seen as acceptance on your part.  Was anything about carpet cleaning in your lease?  I rent and the last at least three places I rented from expected me to have the carpets professionally cleaned at my departure and was a part of my lease.

Another update: I have retained an attorney (using my legal plan, that turns out to be almost as important as health insurance, it seems!) They are sending a letter on my behalf to see if we can wrap this up.  I'm hoping that will be enough of a jolt to finish it once and for all and not have to go on to court.

What's the update?

I believe that the landlord can not deduct for anything  that is over 5 or 7 yrs old due to depreciation.  

Latest update: landlord STILL hasn't picked up the certified letter, so not much going on.  I am SO over waiting for my money back. 

The saga continues...landlord never picked up the CMRR the attorney sent, BUT the USPS never returned it, either, it's "stuck" somewhere in the system. So, the attorney sent a copy regular mail in hopes of jarring them loose, but no one has heard anything. STILL.  Looks like I may have to march it all the way to small claims.  Dangit.

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thankfulheart wrote:

The saga continues...landlord never picked up the CMRR the attorney sent, BUT the USPS never returned it, either, it's "stuck" somewhere in the system. So, the attorney sent a copy regular mail in hopes of jarring them loose, but no one has heard anything. STILL.  Looks like I may have to march it all the way to small claims.  Dangit.

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Good luck with your long battle. At least it is only a $1,200 deposit. Glad you are not dealing with $5k or something like that. Any amount is bad though.

Too many INQs & low AAoA so I'm off to tend the Garden.     Age:21     EQ: 642 TU: 677 EX: 665


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