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Damage deposit question (WA state)
Peter Principle
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
In Washington state, if a landlord doesn't return a damage deposit within 14 days, they forfeit the right to take any of it. We recently moved out of an apartment, and the company sent us our refund after 30 days. So now we're going to write them a letter informing them that they owe us the remainder of our damage deposit.
Does anyone know what their time limit is to return us the remainder of our damage deposit after we notify them by registered mail?
Does anyone know what their time limit is to return us the remainder of our damage deposit after we notify them by registered mail?
"A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business." - Eric Hoffer, _The True Believer_
Peter Principle on
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If it's the former, you should probably consider taking him to court.
If it's the latter, and you're just trying to milk the guy for the money because he didn't come in under a deadline, you should really just let him have the money. Small claims court operates as a court of equity, which means that even if you're legally right, the court can decide that you owe him the money, anyhow, and you'd have wasted the time and money filing in court.
Also, doing it on a technicality like that is kind of an asshole thing to do.
Our last day of tenancy was the 31st of October and the envelope we received was postmarked the 29th of November. The check and all their additional correspondence is dated the 28th of November. It's a slam dunk, basically.
So what constitutes "foot dragging"? Another 14 days from receipt of the letter? End of the month? Three months? I had one attorney tell me that we were allowed to set the date in the letter we send them. I'd love to give those scumbags 14 days to comply, or be liable for 2x the damage deposit costs plus extras.
The court has the discretion to give you up to that. I'm not familiar with these cases but assuming the landlord had the right to the money if he gave you the papers with in the 14 day limit I think its a lot more likely that the court will use its discretion to just let him keep the money as Thanatos said. Assuming he just took some of it without the documentation then its more likely that you'll get the full deposit + maybe court fees. Also note that being an ass in the letter will most likely weaken your case considerably.
No, it's not.
A little annecdote: Our move out date should have been the 30th of September, but since we notified them of our intent to terminate two days late (WA state requires 20 days notice, we gave them 18 because that's when we were fairly sure that we'd have another house to move into), they told us "tough, you didn't give us 20 days notice, so you owe us rent for October".
Far from being an asshole move, nailing these piss-drinking shitbags on a technicality is us getting back a tiny portion of the money that they took from us. If avoiding technicalities like this is your yardstick for ethical judgement, then even if they get it for 2x the deposit, morally speaking they would still owe us $400.
And the awesome thing is that this is low-income housing for families with children (and often ESL immigrants) so when they pull cock-ass moves like that, they're doing it to the people who can least afford it. (Not to mention the fact that we did indeed leave that place spotless, and we've got photographic evidence to back it up. But if we get a judge who knows how to obey the law, that will be irrelevant.)
So, anyway, making a don't-be-a-techincality-dick appeal to me in this situation moves me not at all.
Take the pictures with you to court (because I'm betting you're going to have to go to court). I would mention the "fourteen day" thing as a side note, rather than as your primary argument. Argue, instead, that you were entitled to the money because there were no damages, and then argue damages on the basis of the fourteen days thing (i.e. why you're asking for double what they withheld).
From what I've seen the technicalities of the law carry more weight than you think it does. If, for example, we haven't given them rent for October, would they have taken us to court? And in court would yeahbut claims about only 2 days late and not being in the apartment for all of October carried any weight? I seriously doubt it.
Anyway, this is not what I'm asking about. I'm asking about their time limit to refund us our money before we can take action, and if anyone in the know can give me anymore information.