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How Long Does a Landlord Have to Return a Security Deposit After Breaking of Lease

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  • 08-27-2012, 01:40 PM
    Brandon.Kula
    How Long Does a Landlord Have to Return a Security Deposit After Breaking of Lease
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Iowa

    I recently moved out of an apartment and signed the agreement to break the lease as of June 1st. But, I just received a notice from the Property Manager regarding the fees needed to fix the apartment.

    I was under the impression that they had to return the deposit or give me reason why they didn't within 30 days.
    I can't remember whether I gave them a forwarding address, but they were able to get it apparently, as I received their mail directly to my address(not forwarded)

    Either way, I attempted to contact them on July 16th about the deposit not being returned and of course received no call back from them. So, I was unable to give them the forwarding address at that time.

    In the notice that they gave me, they finished the paperwork on July 26th anyway, well outside of 30 days.

    So, am I liable for those charged?
    According to the Landlord Tenant law I found here:http://www.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE/1999/562A/12.html
    I shouldn't be responsible for any of those charges and they should owe me the full pet deposit back.

    I would understand why I didn't get the apartment deposit back as I broke the lease, but the pet deposit should have been returned by July 1st.

    Anyone able to offer any help with this at all? They are telling me I owe them the money or an explanation why not within 14 days, or they will turn the case into a Collection Agency.

    Edit: I'm unsure if the fact that I hadn't given them a forwarding address matters since I tried to contact them. They never mentioned that they needed one and it's no where in what they sent me saying it was late for that reason. I don't know where the agreement breaking the lease is, so I'm unsure if I wrote a forwarding address on it, but why wouldn't they ask for it then?

    But, like I said, I tried to contact them, left a Voice Mail and still have the call on my phone from then. However, they never returned it.

    I had a real issue in the first place contacting them regarding the lease. I called them 7 times and left messages and finally got ahold of a person to call me back.

    I'm not sure if they just avoid the calls and don't return them for a reason, but I feel like the fact that I called and left a voice mail with my phone number should be enough to say I tried giving them the information. Am I correct in that?
  • 08-28-2012, 08:52 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: How Long Does a Landlord Have to Return a Security Deposit After Breaking of Leas
    Under Iowa Law, your landlord does not have to return your deposit until thirty days after you have vacated the unit and you have given the landlord instructions about where to send the deposit. The fact that you could not reach your landlord by phone on July 16 does not excuse your failure to provide your landlord with an address. You knew your landlord's location, and were able to return your keys, so you could have communicated an address by letter. You could also have attempted to call them back in June. Also, you state that you left numerous messages - quite obviously, you could have included your new address in one of the messages.

    The statute you link says "A landlord shall, within thirty days from the date of termination of the tenancy and receipt of the tenant's mailing address or delivery instructions, return the rental deposit to the tenant or furnish to the tenant a written statement showing the specific reason for withholding of the rental deposit or any portion thereof." Note the "and". Also, even if you misstated the facts and the notice took longer than thirty days from the time you vacated and provided the new address, the statute doesn't say "Damage you caused is a freebie" - just that it can no longer be deducted from the deposit. If a tenant sues the landlord for return of a deposit not returned within 30 days, the statute does not prevent the landlord from countersuing for the damage the tenant caused.
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