I moved out of my old place more than 3 months ago and I have still not received my security deposit from my landlord. I've called and called and he has never picked up or returned my phone calls.

I was at my old neighbors' place a month and a half ago and ran into my landlord. He was caught off guard and told me that he would mail my deposit in a couple of weeks. It's been another month and a half and I've seen nothing. Security deposits in NC should be returned within 30 days. My deposit is $310. He may also owe my other roommate $310. I'm not sure because we don't speak anymore. But my 3rd roommate has received his check.

What should I do? Is it worth it to get a lawyer involved? And how much would that cost me?

3/19/2009 3:00:59 AM

Are you still a student? If so go visit Student Legal Services, http://www.ncsu.edu/stud_affairs/legal_services/ . They will be happy to write a letter or call the landlord on your behalf. That will most likely solve your problem. If not SLS will help you take your landlord to court. I believe small claims court costs some money to file your claim, but if you win, you recoup the money from the defendant. More peeps will be along in the morning to provide more specific info. Also try using the search on here. Good luck.

3/19/2009 3:24:07 AM

loser pays

3/19/2009 3:43:52 AM

^^ fuck that.

Send him a letter certified mail, telling him he has X days to pay you (provide your new address) or you will be filing a claim against him in small claims court. 14 days should suffice.

If he still doesn't pay, go file the claim, then get ready for the fun.

3/19/2009 5:47:40 AM

^ What he said.

3/19/2009 5:53:34 AM

^^there's no reason to not use SLS if it's available to you. that's just retarded. it's free, and (unlike some other "student services" on campus) they're actually pretty helpful.

3/19/2009 7:35:15 AM

^ agreed... they've been a great help in the past

a letter from you stating you have x days might make him think, "hmm, i should probably do this"

a letter from a lawyer stating the same would have a much higher sense of urgency (i would imagine)

3/19/2009 8:51:26 AM

Thanks for the tips everyone. Unfortunately I'm no longer a student. So SLS is no longer an option for me. They've been good help in the past though.

So what should I do? Hire a lawyer? How does this certified mail thing work?

3/19/2009 10:20:51 AM

In North Carolina law they had 30 days from you moving out to either give you back your security deposit or send you a letter explaining why. As they have not done so, you are entitled by law to the entire security deposit back, even if you trashed the place. As such, send them a certified letter explaining this to them and keep a copy for yourself, make sure to include your current address. Just go to the post office and tell them you want to send a certified letter, the post office will give you a receipt when they mail it. Wait another 30 days to give them a chance to pay. During this time confront them in person with the evidence against them to illicit payment.

Take this evidence and file a claim with your county's landlord-tenant court if there is one, small-claims court if there is not. In small claims there will be a fee to file, but you will get it back when you win. They will give you a court date, be sure to bring all evidence: the signed lease, written notification of when you moved out and that you gave them both notice and a forwarding address, a copy of the letter you sent them, certification that they received it, and that they have still not paid. Profit.

3/19/2009 1:49:09 PM

Quote :

"go visit Student Legal Services"

I went there on multiple occasions and I won every time! Seriously try to get Pam Gerace(Sp?) greatest woman on earth...

You need to take this shit to court... My boss told me he had a student in the same situation. This is part of business for landlords. They try to take advantage of you hoping you wont remember or drop it all together... DOIT!

3/19/2009 2:00:07 PM

^ He's not a student anymore.

3/19/2009 2:26:35 PM

Sucks you aint a student, take a quick class over the summer and get benefits

But ya what LoneSnark said, follow it to the T. make sure you have a copy of your lease and all that. Paperwork FTW!

3/19/2009 2:43:17 PM

send him a copy of the NC law or whatever stating this too

3/19/2009 2:59:18 PM

Quote :

"In North Carolina law they had 30 days from you moving out to either give you back your security deposit or send you a letter explaining why. As they have not done so, you are entitled by law to the entire security deposit back, even if you trashed the place."

Yep, that's the beautiful part. If he doesn't pay up, you WILL WIN in small claims court.

You don't have to show ANYTHING except the date you moved out and terminated the lease. He will be forced to pay up, there is zero burden on you for anything else.

3/19/2009 5:02:53 PM

keep us updated...hope you get your deposit back, yo

3/19/2009 8:20:23 PM

How does small claims work though I mean even if they win, how does he get his money? does the loser have to pay that day??

3/20/2009 3:15:30 PM

Quote :

"You don't have to show ANYTHING except the date you moved out and terminated the lease. He will be forced to pay up, there is zero burden on you for anything else."

Am I supposed to have documentation showing the date we moved out? We were living there month-to-month because our old lease was up and we never signed a new one. Also, we waited there our entire last day for our landlord to come and check us out. He kept saying he'd be late and then he said he couldn't make it around 6pm.

3/20/2009 3:55:13 PM

i'm an agent and have several rental houses. the simplest thing is to call the landlord and let them know you are contacting the North Carolina Real Estate Commission because they are in violation of Landlord-Tenant Agreements established by the state of North Carolina. They will usually cough it right up and not risk losing their real estate license. Contacting the commission is free and usually does not involve court for you. I would start here at the very least.

3/20/2009 9:41:34 PM

^ thats what the certified letter accomplishes, plus is admissible in court.

3/20/2009 11:03:42 PM

Thank you for all the advice, everyone. I'll keep you updated.

3/21/2009 1:17:33 PM

Hey guys, I've got a little bit of an update if you're interested. I sent a letter through certified mail. But since the address is a P.O. Box, I don't think anyone's received it yet. So I followed up by forwarding the same message via email. Here are the messages:

Quote :

"Duplicate of letter originally delivered by certified mail on March 23, 2009: Dear Mr. Thomas, I am writing to request the security deposit that you owe me regarding your property at 520 Carolina Avenue, Raleigh, North Carolina. A security deposit of $930 was transferred to you in May 2007 at the beginning of our lease with you. Our lease has since ended and the house has been completely vacant since December 14, 2008. We gave you proper notification of our move date and even waited the entire day for you to come and inspect the property. However, you never showed up. The State of North Carolina requires that security deposits be returned to tenants within 30 days after lease termination. It has been over three months since I last occupied your property. It has been over a month and a half since I last saw you and you asked me for another two weeks to send me the check. Zack Hipshire has since received his deposit. I have called you a countless number of times and have received no responses from you. I have no options left but this. I expect the security deposit to be in my possession within one calendar week of your receipt of this letter. If I have not heard from you when this letter reaches you, I will contact the North Carolina Real Estate Commission to ban you from renting properties in North Carolina and begin proceedings to bring you to court. I have already made the necessary preparations. I have three of my former roommates – your former tenants – to provide statements. There are also three of your current tenants in Unit 3 that witnessed me give my new address to you a second time. Please let me know if you would like a copy of the North Carolina State law regarding security deposits. Mr. Thomas, I hope you realize that I have tried my hardest to cooperate with you over the course of our tenant-landlord relationship. There is no excuse for your behavior as a landlord. I am sorry things had to come down to this, but I expect my deposit to be returned. Once again, my current address is at the top of this letter. "

Quote :

"Chaun I really am disappointed that you feel this way, I'm even more dissappoited that you felt you have to take this route on something you completely dropped the ball on. I have a copy of everything and there is no text from you within the thirty day period from the end of your lease with your address. Zach recieved his because he left his address, there is and was no favoritism envolved in the return of deposit. The other tenant had not recieved his because he never left an address. I explained were to leave it and only one of you did it. Chaun I understand that you must send an email for witness but you and I both know you are wrong in what you did. I know you want to make everyone around you feel that you were right and thats OK by me but you and I both know what I'm talking about. So to pursue this to court, and repeating NC state law as if I know nothing about NC state law is a waste of my time. I have your address, $310 is nowhere near worth going to court for, you pay more than that in court fees. In the future Chaun no were to pick your battles, read your signed lease and you would see were you would not have a leg to stand on in court. (HINT: 6 months) If there was more expense on the line that was worth it we would be meeting in court. (2nd hint: Month to Month) You seem like a smart guy Chaun so please in the future if you are going to do something like this again do all of your homework not just the part that benefits you because you can find yourself on the losing side of a court case. I will foward your email to the head office in New Jersey and a note allowing the release of your deposit. So it will take a week or so but you will have it. Unless they want to fight it for some crazy reason, but in any case you will be notified."

Quote :

"Karla, I conduct all business in the most professional of manner with Howard. I have always had a very amicable and trouble-free relationship with him. Consequently, I have never had to send any messages to this email address. This is why you have no record of my request. I speak with Howard on a personal basis and he promised me my security deposit more than two months ago. I gave Howard my new address on the same day Zack left his. I'm not sure why my address was lost. But I contacted Howard and gave it to him several times after that. He promised me that the deposit would be returned to me soon each time. I am not blaming anyone for favoritism. Zack never dealt with Howard. I was the only remaining tenant who ever contacted Howard for any reason. My letter to Howard was not written with hostile intent. I cannot say the same for your response. I wrote only to ask for my security deposit back - which I am entitled to. For your best interests, I want to bring to your attention the existence of small claims court, which deals with situations like this. Case winners do not worry about court fees. Thankfully, we will not have to resort to this once my check arrives. I hope you don't think I was trying to insult your intelligence with North Carolina law. But I do have to state these things when writing such a letter to you. I would not have invested the time and effort in this manner had Howard returned my calls and voice messages. I have not dropped the ball on anything. My move-out procedure has been very professional. Like I mentioned earlier, I was even patient enough to wait for Howard for 6 hours the day of. Thank you for your timely response in this manner. I will patiently wait for your office in New Jersey to release my deposit. Best wishes, "

4/2/2009 11:05:10 PM

You may want to make it clear that you expect your check within 2 weeks time or you will move forward with fillings. Seriously, one week to send a check when you are being threatened with legal action is just another stall tactic

Also, you do not need to apoligize for "insulting" him by explaining NC law, it is apparent through his actions that he doesn't know it.

[Edited on April 2, 2009 at 11:17 PM. Reason : .]

4/2/2009 11:16:30 PM

landlords are all douches. the only positive renting experience i had in raleigh was through rhyne management, because they fixed stuff without the landlord getting involved. not that the landlord didnt try to fuck it up by walking in unannounced on me multiple times, usually when i wasnt dressed. anyway, renting blows!!

4/3/2009 3:04:50 AM

^^^ I find it really condescending when people feel the need to say your name over and over again when they're talking to you.

"Well BOB, if you have bothered to listen to me, we wouldn't be in this situation BOB. I am disappointed in your actions BOB."

Makes me angry

4/3/2009 3:49:31 AM

^^^^ the guy pretty much sounds like an idiot and part of me wishes he wouldn't pay you the deposit back so you can take him to court and have his ass. I mean his return letter looks like it was written by an 8 year old. Good luck on this. I've had the same problems with landlords before so reading this pisses me off becasue it reminds me of what I've been through.

4/3/2009 6:15:49 AM

Quote :

"In the future Chaun no were to pick your battles"

HAHA NO??? that really professional lol

4/3/2009 10:25:03 AM

*add to my topics

4/3/2009 10:45:06 AM

Quote :

"In the future Chaun no were to pick your battles, read your signed lease and you would see were you would not have a leg to stand on in court"

4/3/2009 11:19:10 AM

I love it when landlords think their lease is above the law

4/3/2009 11:25:57 AM

My dad had a CPA firm. He told me one time that one of his wealthiest clients was a slumlord who owned over 250 houses. The guy was supposedly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he found a formula that worked and stuck with it. After 30 years of doing it the loans were paid off and he was making 250 x~$450/month minus expenses. Do the math...That's a lot of loot!

[Edited on April 3, 2009 at 11:52 AM. Reason : l]

4/3/2009 11:50:37 AM

$1.3M/year. Damn.

4/3/2009 12:03:06 PM

+ probably $15,000,000 in assets just in the houses.

4/3/2009 12:43:29 PM

yeah, 60K for what he's buying is probably about right.

although my boss has several duplexes that he only paid $50,000 for. pretty damn good deal..he's getting $500 a month for each side. obviously he's making a little moneyyy

4/3/2009 12:48:49 PM

Good god.

After that, I'd have headed straight to the courthouse and filed all the appropriate paperwork.

A guy like that has no common decency, and you're not going to get your money back by playing nice. That's also the type of person who refuses to ever admit they're wrong, no matter how poorly-informed they are ("I have your address, $310 is nowhere near worth going to court for, you pay more than that in court fees.")

I wonder if you can request interest to be paid. CC interest rates range all the way up to 29%, so if you could ask for interest, you'd be very justified in asking for 15-20%

4/3/2009 12:59:57 PM

So wait, who is Howard and who is Karla? Howard is the landlord you sent the message to but Karla is the one who responded? I'm confused.

4/3/2009 2:44:24 PM

sounds like Howard is subordinate to Karla.

4/3/2009 2:53:53 PM

Quote :

"So wait, who is Howard and who is Karla? Howard is the landlord you sent the message to but Karla is the one who responded? I'm confused."

yeah their whole operation is really confusing up to the point of being pretty sketchy.

Howard is my former landlord and the only person I've ever dealt with. I write all my checks out to his name. But his company is called P.O.P. Property. When my other roommate got his check back, it came from either NY or NJ - where the landlord is from originally. I believe Karla is his mom because he mentioned to me before that his mom does real estate in NY and she is who first started him off with the whole business. So now I'm dealing with his mom...

4/3/2009 2:55:29 PM

who owns the house?


http://www.wakegov.com/tax/default.htm

4/3/2009 2:57:00 PM

wtf, I always thought it was owned by Howard...me and my roommates looked it one time last year.

But it says the owner is Jo Anne. The last name isn't even the same as Howard's or Karla's. I must have forgotten that we came across that discovery. Her address is in NJ though...

4/3/2009 3:01:44 PM

4/3/2009 4:26:33 PM

Update?

4/14/2009 1:20:22 AM

Yeah, you should really be riding this guys nuts. People that don't honor the rental laws and keep your money are scum.

4/14/2009 2:02:45 AM