can they do this

We used to live in an apartment in Febuary 2004. After giving a month's notice (no lease) we moved out on Feburary 28th and gave the Landlord our forwarding address. The landlord completed a walk-through inspection while we were moving out.

Now we have a collection agency contacting us (Jan. 9/08) wanting payment for damages done to this apartment. We have always given proper notice and alway received a portion or full reimbursement of any damage deposit.

We checked our bank accounts for months following the move, but to the best of our knowledge we must have cashed the cheque instead of depositing it.

Can they do this? It's been 4 years.

[OHlandlord]

Call the court in the county of the unit and ask if a judgment has been granted against you. If the owner got a judgement against you for unpaid rent, damages, etc., the judgement is good for quite a few years (10 years in my state), and can be renewed for another period of years once it expires. If there is a judgment on file, they can pursue you in attempts to collect. The statute of limitations on pursuing bad debts (filing for the judgement) in many states is 5 years. You would have to look up the statute of limitations and the length of time a judgment is good for in your state as all state laws have different periods.

If there is no judgment on file and none was granted, send the collection agency a letter by certified mail (return receipt requested) disputing those charges. Ask for verification of the charges and an itemization. They will send you any information they have on why you are being charged.

We are located in Canada.

According to the Residential Tenancy Act they have 2 years to make an arbitration.

Seeing that this is 4 years later... and they had our forwarding address, and our phone number has always been listed.

How can they collect?? Or are they just hoping we'll be stupid and pay.

[OHlandlord]

Most probably, that 2 years is the time they have to take it to court initially. Once they have taken it to court, they obtain a judgment for the amount owed. They may have taken it to court and gotten a default judgement since you were not notified and did not appear at the hearing. It is possible to have a judgement against you and not know it. Call the court for that city and ask. Once a judgement is obtained, the statute of limitations for a contract takes over. This period of limitation usually ranges from 5-20 years after it has been granted by a court.

If there is no judgement by the court, you can write them back that the time to arbitrate is expired per the Residential Tenancy Act. If there is a judgment, ask the court to overturn it since you were not properly notified of a hearing.

They may be sending out letters to everyone in the computer who left owing them money, and hoping that some will pay. But it would be better to be sure there is not a judgement waiting for you out there somewhere.