Security Deposit

[bravery12]

I need to know my rights for receiving my security deposit of $850. Upon final inspection the only problems that they found were a couple of bleach spots in carpet, some small, about ten nail holes from small pictures that were hanging and they had to Paint 2 rooms upstairs (1 of which were my kids room). They also had to replace 2 sliding screens (which they were aware of were damaged from someone breaking in the house). I got no money back and the letter (bill) stating that they used all $850 for these mostly cosmetic issues, they also did not send that in the 30 day window as stated in the lease. Final inspection was June 30, 2008 the reply was postmarked August 2nd, 2008. Is this fair? and do we have any legal recourse to take them to court? Thanks

First I need to know 1) how long you lived in the rental, 2) was the carpet new at move in, 3) did your lease allow picture hanging or 4) make you responsible for patching holes, 5) did you file a police report on the attempted break-ins, and 6) why did they need to repaint the kids rooms? [Also, 7) were they newly painted at move in?]

Please answer the above questions and post your state.

Your statement ws 33 days past the inspection. Depending on your state, this may or may not have been in time. Generally, there are 30 days to return the deposit, but not all states have this same timeline. Some have more, some less. But being only a couple days late usually is not enough to show bad faith on the LLs part to receive any penalty of 2 - 3 times the deposit as stated in some state laws. To obtain that, you have to show that he willfully withheld the wrong amount or did so on purpose. An accounting error or an error in calculating the dates is usually not enough on its own.

Please provide the info above for more specific answers.

[bravery12]

(1)We lived in the unit for 26 months. (2)The carpet was not new at move in. (3 )Nothing in the lease states anything about picture hanging. (4)The first management agent told us it was okay to hang them. Nothing about filling in the holes. (5)Yes we filed a police report. Notified the agent of the break-in and they were not concerned with that, they only asked if we sent the rent off ontime. (6)the kids walls were marked on in spots, so they did need painting I would say, (7)Yes they were newly painted.

My state is Ga,

As for the inspection, I called them and left a message for them and sent an e-mail asking for the final inspection checklist and the never responded, they just mailed it after 30 days were up.

Great answers! Here are some results:
1) They can charge you a depreciated amount for the carpet. Bleach is not wear & tear and cannot be cleaned out. The cost is based on 2 things - how old the carpet is, and what depreciation schedule they sue on taxes. Your carpet is probably at least 3 yrs old since it was not new at move-in. The LL can use between 5 and 10 ys on his IRS schedule. It works like this:
Subtract the age of the carpet from the yrs of depreciation. This gives you the remaining life of the carpet/ Divide that remaining life by the depreciation number, then multiply by the price of the replacement carpet. This gives you the ammount you pay. In this case, let's assume a mid point of 7 yrs for the LL's depreciation. 7-3 = 4 yrs useful life remianing. 4/7 x the rpice of the carpet would yield how much you owe for it.
2) If you lived there 26 months and the kids marked the walls so that they needed painting, they can charge you for painting. I'd charge 1/3 of the cost since I expect a paint job to last 3 yrs.
3) I wouldn't charge for the screens since police reports were filed.
4) The inspection report is not required. They only need to send you the statement.