Security Deposit, VA

Lease ended April 30, no word from management company regarding walk through. 47 days later they mailed the refund statement.
Are they in violation of VRLTA, which gives 45?
Would this be a case closer?
Thank you

It is a violation. However, it is doubtful that a court would find them in contempt for this small mistake. Only 2 days late does not show a bad faith effort on the LL's part. They would not award you any penalty for such a short overage. They would probably attribute it to a human error or a miscalculation of the date. If the refund was correct and has no errors in it, just forget it.

Thank you for your reply.

I do not think the refund statement is correct(of course), they charged $500+ to clean a small two bedroom that was cleaned by us, and $800+ to paint. Lived in for 5 years, and smoked. Mgmnt says smoke discoloration on walls was reason for charges. We did not expect to get any deposit back, but also did not expect to be charged another $900 on top of it.

I understand your point about only two days. I know that if I was two days late on something they would haul me to court and most likely prevail. Dad was right, life isn't fair.

While being 2 days late with the statement isn't reason to challenge these charges, the charges being incorrect IS a reason. If you lived in a unit for 5 years, and smoking was not prohibited in the unit, they should not charge you for re-painting the unit. For one, they would probably need to repaint the unit anyways after that period (most LLs expect 2-3 years from a paint job). For another, smoking was not prohibited per your lease so it was expected that you were allowed to smoke. (Since they didn't say you couldn't, they should reasonably expect you to do so.) Also, unless they broke down those cleaning charges (2 hours labor to clean stove, 3 hours labor to clean dirty bathtub and toilet, or whatever) it is not a lawful charge. The deductins on the statem,ent need to be clear enough for you to understand exactly what they needed to do to the unit. "Cleaning" isn't detailed. You have no idea what needed cleaned, or how long it took, or how much an hour they charged for it. If this was as much detail as they provided, I would challenge it.

Thank you, very informative and one of our problems is that the statement is vague at best.
I see the point about two days, but doesn't VRTLA allow them 30, unless they use a subcontractor?
If they do use a sub they get the extra 15 days but must show what the subs did, and their charges? Which they did not.

Although they went 2 days over, it is very unlikely that a court would find them in violation for this. It is just too small a time to show bad faith on the LL's part. The letter could have gotten stuck in a postal machine, been forgotten in a carrier's bag, or dropped off the conveyer belt of the postage stamper. 2 days could easily have been a postal delay (the US mail's fault) and not the LL's. It could have also been a miscalculation of dates by the LL-something that few courts find a bad faith effort. The penalties for not getting the statement to you on time are normally only imposed when you show the LL did not retrun it to you on time for bad faith. Missing it by 2 days probably isn't enough to show this on his part.

But since the statement is vague and does not clearly define what needes cleaned and why you were charged with painting even though they had not done so for 5 years, I would challenge the refund. Although you may not get the penalty (2-3x the deposit back) you should get some of your money back. Sue him in small claims court after you send him a challenge letter, disputing his charges one by one.