What to do if my landlord is trying to claim for damages against my security deposit but I didn’t receive written notice until after the 30dy vacate period?
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What to do if my landlord is trying to claim for damages against my security deposit but I didn’t receive written notice until after the 30dy vacate period?
Since I did not receive the written notice until outside of the 30 day period after vacating the premises, has he forfeited his rights to the claim? His original letter was sent within the 30 day period but I did not receive it because he in error his error alone addressed it to the wrong address. Then, outside of the 30 day period, he re-sent it addressed correctly. The postmark date with the correct address on it was dated 40 days after I vacated the premises.
Asked on September 14, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Florida
Answers:
Catherine Blackburn / Blackburn Law Firm
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Is the landlord's claim for damages legitimate (i.e., there were damages that he or she had to fix)? If so, then the right thing would be to pay for the damages rather than fight a technicality.
Florida Statutes section 83.49 says that a landlord must send a specific notice to the tenant's last known address by certified mail within 30 days of vacating the premises. That is the technicality - if the landlord sent the notice to your last known address, they are within their rights. If they did not, then they failed to comply with the statute and probably lose this argument.
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