Ok, so I thought I would throw this little conundrum out here before talking to a real lawyer (and paying real money) so I might have some idea of what I can do.
I've been renting a place for the last 6 or 7 months. The landlord that showed me the place was very nice, was relatively prompt faxing paperwork, I put down a security deposit, paid the first and last month's rent, and moved in.
Upon moving in, we found a number of things in the apartment that weren't finished. Big things, like the kitchen sink not being hooked up, no water to the building, and one of the toilets didn't work. She made a half assed attempt to get a repair man that called twice to say he would be late then never showed, and won't return calls. Then she stopped returning calls. Finally, I got so fed up with it, that I left her a message that said if she didn't have someone out by the end of the day, I was going to do the work and bill her MY rate. No response. I hooked up the sink, replaced a toilet, intalled a filter in the water filter (the water filter had the paper instructions in it. I wondered why the water smelled funny...) and a number of other things, and deducted the amount from the rent. I billed her about $75 an hour for the work, and sent her the reciepts for the parts. Expected to get a nasty call back saying I couldn't do that, but.....nothing. Guess she's fine with it.
So here's my dilemna, aside from being terrified something will happen during hurricane season down here. I don't trust this woman as far as I can throw her to give my security deposit back. Her phone goes straight to voicemail every time, and she will not return calls. I've called at least 10 times since the last time I've heard from her.
Now, assuming that there is no damage to the apartment, and that there is still no contact when it comes time to move out, what can I do to make sure I get my security deposit back? I've pre-payed the last month's rent, so I was thinking of just not paying the second to last month's rent (as the security deposit is the same amount as one month's rent). I just want to make sure she can't send my ass to a collection's agency. Is there any kind of agency that handle things like this, or any way I can back up my claims of inability to contact the landlord? I was planning on sending a delivery confirmed letter letting her know what I was planning on doing, but again, this is assuming I do this and get no response, as usual.
Any ideas?
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