Three years ago I was in a living situation that I felt was life threatening. I was living in an apartment complex run by a large business. My neighbor was harassing me and I believed that his behavior was escalating toward violence. I complained to the rental office many times. I used the excessive noise coming from his apartment as my main complain, since I had this backed by police reports. The office choose to ignore the situation. I had a lawyer write them a letter. They responded by evicting me. In the eviction, they claimed various infractions that echoed exactly what the neighbor had threatened me with during his harrassment. (He was friends with the manager.) The eviction notice said I would not owe the money for the rest of the lease if I left by a certain date. I know its illegal to do this, but I didn't care. I was free! Today, three years later, I received a notice in the mail that this landlord is trying to collect 1277 dollars from me, and "would I please call to make arrangements for payment." They already have my entire security deposit, as I felt this would go above and beyond the damage to the carpet that my dog had caused, and I very much never wanted to hear from these people again. (The security deposit was $650)
How should I respond to this letter? Should I hire an attorney to answer it for me? (Money is very tight.) Isn't there some kind of time limit on these things?

