Return of tenant's security deposit

[Wesley W.]

Okay, here's a new one that I need some feedback on.  It looks like I've got to refine my process to avoid this in the future.

Tenant vacated but did not immediately fill out "change of address" form with USPS.  I asked tenant for new address, but they did not respond immediately.  Here in NY, we only have 14 days to return the security deposit, so by the time they vacate and I get in there to do the turnover and find any damages, we are right up against that deadline every time.  (FWIW: A day after I sent out the check, she responded with new address.)

Now, as we'd expect, she "did not get the check" and is asking for a reissue of the packet I sent her (check, detailed invoice and pics of damage).  At a minimum, I will have to absorb the $25 stop payment fee, so that's frustrating.  The definition of insanity is expecting different results by doing the same thing, so I'm not keen on sending out another check/docs via USPS mail.  And NO, I did not send it certified mail, but before someone suggests that, back in October I had a similar situation and I sent someone's deposit back via certified mail and...wait for it...the USPS lost it.  It took months for them to complete their fruitless "investigation", and in the meantime I had a major headache because the check I sent was a cashier's check and could not be voided.  But, I digress...

My idea is to just deposit the check directly into her back account and send her the docs digitally.  Does anyone see any issues with that?  I mean, she's had my bank account information that she used to pay rent, so this is just the reciprocal of that, eh?  I'm not interested in meeting up with her to hand it over physically; that's horribly inefficient and not scalable.

Does anyone have any other ideas?  How do you return the security deposit and avoid this situation? 

Thank you in advance for your contributions!

[Nathan Gesner]

If a check is lost and it's through no fault of my own, I charge the tenant a fee to stop payment and issue a new check. You may want to check if that's legal in your neck of the woods.

In the great State of Wyoming, my clock doesn't start to tick until the departing Tenant provides a forwarding address. No address, no refund.