Friday, September 14, 2007

So glad I don't live there anymore...

Today is the 45th day after my move-out from my old apartment complex, and under Indiana law, a landlord must return a security deposit, minus any amounts applied to damages and unpaid rent and stuff, "all as itemized by the landlord with the amount due in a written notice that is delivered to the tenant not more than forty-five (45) days after termination of the rental agreement and delivery of possession." I read the statute as clearly stating that the tenant must receive the returned deposit within 45 days, but because I don't have access to Lexis-Nexis or Westlaw anymore, I can't do much easy research into whether courts construe "delivered" to mean , essentially, "tendered," so that there's basically a 3-day window for mailing, like the one for service and stuff.

Anyway, I called my complex today and asked about the deposit, and the woman told me that the deposits are mailed on the 45th day. I laughed and said that wasn't really in compliance with the law, but ok, I just wanted to make sure I was getting my money. She got all shitty with me and said, "That is the law in Indiana, we have to mail it back to you within 45 days," blah blah blah, and I wanted to call her a stupid bitch. But I didn't.

But seriously, aside from this, their policy is to keep my $1000 as long as they legally can, for no fucking good reason? Fuck them. When I moved out, my apartment was cleaner than it had been when I moved in--for sure. I remember that my mom and I spent two days cleaning that thing (and killing spiders), and that's after we had the management send over their cleaning lady to at least clean the bathroom, since there was a humongous crusty shit stain in the toilet. Clearly the apartment had not been cleaned, as the management asserted. Anyway, the woman who did my walk through at move-out said a couple times, "I wish all the apartments looked like this when people moved out!" My move-out sheet said everything was in the same--or better--condition than it was when I moved in. And I know they had someone moving in the next morning at 7:30 a.m. Clearly my apartment was in good shape, and there is no legal basis for any deductions--the statute is pretty tight. S
o it's not like they're hanging on to that money because they're using it for repairs. I just think it's shitty to keep the money as long as possible. Assholes.

So you can bet that I will be getting some Lexis access if I get that deposit back and there is anything deducted. Because FUCK. THEM.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i get free unlimited lexis access...let me know if you need something looked up :-)