I'm a somewhat short time lurker, new poster Have a situation with my old apartment complex. So the deal is we gave our notice to leave on December 1, 2008 (included it with our December rent). They require a 2 month notice and our lease expired on January 31, 2009. They're claiming that we didn't give our notice till December 15th and are trying to get a partial rent payment for February (claming we owe rent until Feb 12). Link snipped This says the landlord has 45 days to return our deposit or to give us an itemized list of what we owe (if I read that correctly). We passed the 45 day mark and I sent them the following certified letter: [Q] To Whom It May Concern, We are writing to request that you send our security deposit of $250.00 and accrued interest to our new address (which was provided when we moved out): -------------------- -------------------- As you know, we provided our notice to vacate on December 1, 2008 and we vacated our apartment at -------------------------- on January 31, 2009. The apartment was left clean, and we have left it as it was when it was first rented to us, except for normal wear and tear. The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (VRLTA) states that you owe us the entire amount of the security deposit, since we have not received our security deposit nor have we received an itemized list of deductions within 30 days of vacating the apartment. (Specifically Section 55-248.15:1). If we do not receive our deposit and interest, we may pursue legal action against you for the deposit, plus a penalty equal to twice the amount of the deposit and any court costs or attorney fees. We have attached a copy of our notice to vacate which was provided to you on December 1, 2008 and a copy of our key return verification which is dated January 31, 2009. Sincerely, --------------- --------------- [/Q] They received the letter on March 19th, and I received a phone call from the property manager. He tells me he received the letter and he said they sent out a itemized list to us on Feb 24th. We never received anything (this isn't the first time they've claimed they sent something and they didn't) He then confirms our current address. I told him we haven't heard anything from them in over 45 days and he said it doesn't matter, they have 3 months. I told him that according to the rent law for Virginia which I had included a copy of with my certified letter, they have 45 days. His response was then that 45 days from Feb 12 has not arrived yet. I told him that's irrelevant since we were officially out of the apartment and lease on January 31, 2009. I then asked him if he was going to give our deposit back or not and he said no. I asked him why not and he said because of some carpet damage done by the pets. I do know of 2 small sections where they pulled up the carpet. I asked him how much are they trying to charge us to fix those sections and he said $1100 (sounded a little high for the apartment grade carpet but I'm not sure). He then told me we owe a partial rent payment of ~$600 for February and a partial pet fee of $60. I told him since we gave him 60 days notice as required by our lease, we don't owe squat. We went back and forth a little bit and towards the end I told him that after all the crap we've had to deal with at that apartment which included, mold growing for over a month in our pantry, no electric for 3 days, non working dryer for 2 months, and of course the massive roach infestation from our neighbors which the apartment people never did anything about. After that, he asked if there was anything he could do for me. I told him no and we expect our deposit within 2 weeks. Since that phone call, I visited a few flooring stores (including Home Depot/Lowes) and they gave me an estimate of $800 - $1000 to recarpet the whole apartment so his charge of $1100 is bogus. But since that phone call, I hadn't heard anything from them at all. This past Friday (04/03/2009) I received a letter from a Collection Agency. I haven't responded yet and wasn't sure how to proceed. I did a little bit of googling and found this sample letter I was thinking of sending but wanted to get some advice/opinions first: [Q]ABC Collections 123 NotOnYourLife Ave Chicago, IL Date Re: Acct # XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX To Whom It May Concern: This letter is being sent to you in response to a notice sent to me on September 30, 2002). Be advised that this is not a refusal to pay, but a notice sent pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 USC 1692g Sec. 809 (b) that your claim is disputed and validation is requested. This is NOT a request for â??verificationâ? or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you. Please provide me with the following: What the money you say I owe is for; Explain and show me how you calculated what you say I owe; Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe; Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable; Identify the original creditor; Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account Show me that you are licensed to collect in my state Provide me with your license numbers and Registered Agent At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the 3 major Credit Bureauâ??s (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following: Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Defamation of Character If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested in the following Declaration, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist. Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will consult with my legal counsel for suit. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is. If your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately. I would also like to request, in writing, that no telephone contact be made by your offices to my home or to my place of employment. If your offices attempt telephone communication with me, including but not limited to computer generated calls and calls or correspondence sent to or with any third parties, it will be considered harassment and I will have no choice but to file suit. All future communications with me MUST be done in writing and sent to the address noted in this letter by USPS. It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records, any information obtained shall be used for that purpose. Best Regards, Your Signature Your Name [/Q] For what it's worth, the collection agency is Fair Collections & Outsourcing Bottom line: Apartment complex says we owe money for a partial month rent payment + carpet dmg. The partial month rent is bogus and there was some minor carpet damage (about $100 worth at most). The apartment complex sent me nothing in writing or phone calls for over 45 days after we moved out. We honestly don't care about getting our security deposit back but we want this nonsense to go away. Thanks in advance
