What to do if my landlordrefuses torefundour deposit because she says we breachedour contract but didn’t send us a list of damagesfor months?
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What to do if my landlordrefuses torefundour deposit because she says we breachedour contract but didn’t send us a list of damagesfor months?
We moved out of our townhouse almost 2 months ago. Our landlord didn’t contact us, ignored our calls and emails, until finally when she responded back to our question about our deposit yesterday. She says that we breached the contract by having pets and won’t be getting our deposit back. Can she legally keep our money even though it took her 2 months to send us any sort of notice of damages?
Asked on September 23, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Michigan
Answers:
M.T.G., Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Okay. I am assuming here that you complied with Michigan Law which requires the tenant to provide the landlord with a copy of their forwarding address withing four days of the move-out date. Can be in person or certified mail. Once that is the case the landlord has 30 days to return the deposit to the renter. If the landlord does not return the deposit within this period of time, the security deposit becomes property of the renter unless the deposit was being held to pay for unpaid rent. If she had a gripe she should have brought it up - and documented it - months ago,. So go to small claims court asap. Good luck.
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