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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    3

    Default Dispute of Deposit Owed

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Washington

    About 2 weeks after moving in, we had a home inspection done by a certified home inspector at our expense. We were considering purchasing the home, but opted not to due to the amount of repairs required.

    My landlord is wanting to keep the entire security deposit though for the following reasons:

    *He claims that walls were freshly painted when we moved it and are not in good condition anymore. There were several spots on the walls where he had touched up leaving large patches of paint, and in some cases the incorrect color was used. We did not get a checklist from the landlord upon moving in as he was required to do noting the current condition of anything.

    *While we were living there, the garage door was damaged. The door was closing one day, and apparently an obstruction was in the tracks. Oddly enough though, the garage door did not stop and roll back up, it continued to press down crushing the internal springs in the door. However, the home inspection report was done prior to this damage and noted that the auto-reverse mechanism was faulty and needed repaired. Obviously this is the big ticket item. I'd like to dispute this charge, as had the mechanism been working properly the door would not have been damaged. Do i have anything to stand on here by disputing this based on the home inspection report?

    Thanks for your time

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Dispute of Deposit Owed

    It looks like your landlord has no right to a security deposit, having not followed RCW 59.18.260. See also RCW 59.18.280. But he may nonetheless have a claim for damages.

    What damage did you do to the paint?

    What's the difference in cost of repair for the garage door before and after you damaged it?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Dispute of Deposit Owed

    Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.

    We had no damage to the paint or the walls. The walls are in the same condition as when we moved in, patches of paint in a few spots where the landlord had touched them up. Of course, no pre-move in checklist is exists.

    I don't yet have an accurate estimate on what the repairs would have been before or after. Prior experience with garage doors leads me to believe it would have cost no more than $200 to adjust the reverse-mechanism. The landlord claims the whole door needs replaced at over $1000. We should have the itemized estimates against the deposit within 2-weeks.

    I should mention 2 prior emails. One indicates that we wouldn't be held to the costs of the garage door (later retracted by the landlord). The other email was after we first moved in where the landlord confirms that the condition of the house was not checked after the cleaning crew was done.

    Again, thanks for your time.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Dispute of Deposit Owed

    Hang on to those emails. If you don't get a sufficient refund, you can attempt to use them to convince a small claims court to order the return of the balance.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    3

    Default Re: Dispute of Deposit Owed

    Quote Quoting aaron
    View Post
    Hang on to those emails. If you don't get a sufficient refund, you can attempt to use them to convince a small claims court to order the return of the balance.
    Good advice. I hang onto every email these days. With the amount of free email space now available, it's easy to save them

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