LL (acutally her mother acting as her 'agent', but never in writing) entered the home while I was trying to move out without proper notice or provocation! LL also did not give me proper notice of vacating the property according to the lease agreement (it says 60 days, she only gave me 45). I have been harrassed by the LL mother for months by her 'driving by the house' and then reporting what she felt was 'not right' with the property and then getting a call from the real estate agent who is SUPPOSED to be managing the property.

When I did move out, the real esate agent gave me an excellent reference to another real estate agent but now will not talk to me.

What do I do??? How can I get my deposit back???

Please help!!!

As expected, LL has now requested that she keep 802.00 of my 1500.00 deposit for what she feels I "damaged". I have this in writing now. In her last paragraph, she states she 'knows' what transpired between my husband and her mother when her mother entered the house without notice and my husband "called the law" on her. This woman jumped his case and started accusing us of everything from 'abandoning' the property to leaving doors open so that 'skunks and snakes' could enter the home!! This didn't happen!!

By the way, the police department refused to even respond stating it was a civil matter.

So what do I do!!?? Is there no one out there with an answer????

Send a registered letter demanding your deposit back. If she refuses, off you go to small claims court. Hopefully, you have date stamped photos or video showing the home damage free and clean when you moved out.

Mommy,

First, thank you so much for your quick reponse! :p

Actually, no videos or pics...but the real estate agent that did the first walk thru (there were actually three, but I was only present during the first one) had a checklist....I have not received a copy as of yet from her. When my husband asked her for her opinion of the place, she stated that she didn't see why we would not get most of all of the deposit back. The other two walk thrus were done well after the 72 hour deadline (her mother's five days after we vacated and the LL over two weeks after). So what happened between that time is unsure....

The LL actually just called and wanted to know where I stood. She left a message on my voicemail on my work phone. I was unavailable to answer the phone....

Again, Mommy...thank you so much...any other ideas are welcome!

I have found that a letter from an attorney works wonders.

Find a local attorney and have him/her write you a quick letter demanding payment.

It won't cost much (certainly less than 805 dollars) and gets surprisingly fast results.

People like to be petty when they think they are in charge. Bring the law into it and they get complacent.

Now my landlord is threating to ADD more charges to damages if I "take this to court".....she agreed in her letter to me to "do the work myself" but if I take this to court, she will add "labor" charges!! HELP!! :confused:

Did she put that in a letter to you?

Yes, Mommyof4...she sure did!! In Black and white!!!

I did get an idea from cyjeff to have an attorney write her a letter....but there are so many issues where she either breached the lease contract or just plain ignored VA statues....I just wish I knew better BEFORE all this came about....it would have been handled VERY differently....live and learn.:o

Well, how very, very stupid of her.:p

My and Jeff's advice is still valid. Send the letter (or better yet, have an attty draw up the letter to send) demanding the deposit back and a cease and desist statement. If she does not comply or sends any more threats, take her to court. Be sure you make copies of that letter and have them with you in court.

HUGE mistake on her part.

Wow.

That borders on the criminally stupid.

Take that letter to an attorney. Make sure that the attorney charges your lovely LL for his time as well.

He/she would gut the woman for a letter like that... judges don't take a threat to keep people out of court very lightly.

I really didn't think when I read it...but you are right! Isn't that the next best thing to 'blackmail'???? and she signed the letter to boot!!!:confused:

I really didn't think when I read it...but you are right! Isn't that the next best thing to 'blackmail'???? and she signed the letter to boot!!!:confused:

Yes.

She is trying to extort money out of you by threatening to lie in a court of law.

Wow.