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Need help! Security deposit check #2 bounced...

L

littlezipp

Golden Member
I'll start at the beginning... Last year one of my roomates wanted to let some of her friends take over our lease so that they could have our lower rent rate. We agreed to let them. The agreement that we had made with them was that they must give us back our security deposit before they move in. Well, they gave us the 4 checks before they moved in, and we all thought that was that. Week later we all get the checks back from our banks and all the checks had bounced! We called them up and they said that they were not going to give any of our money back because we had "left the house dirty," and they had to do a little cleaning before they could unpack... They said that a cleaning service would charge $400 to clean the place, and that the carpet was "destroyed" so we were not entitled to any money. (And no, the carpet was not destroyed by any account, they just were being jerks.) Well we met with them and got them to pay us about half of the deposit (I was not happy about this) just so we could have the matter closed. Well they cut us checks the second time and we thought that all was over, but I just checked Bank of America online, and the check bounced again!
What do I do!
 
Small claims court is my alternative. I wanted to do it the first time the checks bounced, but roomies were not for that.
 
So let me get this right, they gave you bad checks the first time around and you let them give you a personal check again? I can't believe you didnt demand cash or a money order.

Do you have some sort of written contract? I would suggest taking them to small claims court. They may pay up if you threaten to take them to court, be sure to follow through if they call you on it. Oh, and DONT TAKE A CHECK FROM THEM AGAIN!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
 
Contact them again.

If you are unable to come to a reasonable conclusion, send them a certified letter stating your legal intentions.

How long were you living there? Here in Oregon, there are pretty strict rent laws.. there is a"wear and tear" law that states if you're a resident for 2 years or more(I believe), they cannot charge you on wear and tear items such as carpeting.

You may want to look into applicable laws for your state.
 
I already have looked into the law, California also has the said wear and tear clause.
I know I shouldn't have accepted the check, but I didn't want to be an a-hole, but I guess in this case I should have!
 
Originally posted by: Crazymofo
bouncing a check over 500 is a felony file charges on them and get them arrested!!
Click to expand...

Unfortunetly it was 4 checks of $150 each. But since they acted together would that count?
 
Assuming it's the same in the state where you are as it is in NY, you should've received the checks back with "Insufficient Funds" stamped on them. If they weren't perforated with holes by the bank reflecting closed accounts (which is a persay crime), you can re-deposit the checks. All that happened was that there weren't sufficient funds at the time that you deposited the checks. If you go to the bank that the checks were drawn upon, at some point there should be sufficient funds in the account. Check and see if this is the case where you are.
 
Originally posted by: Medea
Assuming it's the same in the state where you are as it is in NY, you should've received the checks back with "Insufficient Funds" stamped on them. If they weren't perforated with holes by the bank reflecting closed accounts (which is a persay crime), you can re-deposit the checks. All that happened was that there weren't sufficient funds at the time that you deposited the checks. If you go to the bank that the checks were drawn upon, at some point there should be sufficient funds in the account. Check and see if this is the case where you are.
Click to expand...

No, they did not "bounce" per say, they put stop payments on the checks. The last one had a big stamp on it saying do not re-deposit.
 
Okay. You used the term "bounced." A "stop payment" is a different animal. You said you got some of the money back. To get the rest, you have to go to small claims. I'm guessing this was an oral agreement. Check the wording on your lease to make sure that you can sublease. If you can, than you have to prove what state your carpet was in when you left. I'm also guessing that you didn't take pictures of the apartment before you left. Always do this when there's a security deposit. Pictures will help your case. Make sure that there's a newspaper reflecting the same date in one of the pictures.
 
Oh, one last important thing. Check with your state's law, but in most states, acceptance of partial payment (here, the half-payments of the security checks) demonstrates a disposition/resolution of the dispute and you will lose in court - unless you can prove that it was your understanding that they promised to pay the the other half by a date certain.
 
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