Move out checklist disaster, help !

[Martha Daisley]

Hi guys,

I need your advise. I have a tenant thats out of the country in Iraq. He gave me 30 day notice via email that he was non-renewing the lease. I accepted his non-renewal. He never came back into the country so I ended up doing  the move out walkthrough and move out checklist with his adult children and his son signed off.  The children are listed as occupants on the lease but only the dad is the primary on the lease as he originally signed it.

Now he is upset because he will not be getting his deposit back as there is extensive repainting/repairs that need to be done that go above and beyond the deposit. He is saying it wasnt acceptable to have his son sign and is threatening to "go to the authorities". Im not sure what else i could have done since he was not in the country and someone had to be present and sign.  He is now also claiming his wife is getting seen for health issues due to mold in one of rooms. When they  first complained about it, i sent my handyman over on two occassions to treat the issue and they didnt say anything more about it until now. He obviously wants to retaliate because hes not getting his deposit back. Im getting a professional mold inspection done next week to cover myself.

My question is: Is it a problem that i had his adult son sign the moveout checklist since he(the dad) was out of the country at the time of moveout?  #2. I know you are supposed to send a certified letter with intent to keep the deposit. I dont have an address for him in Iraq and im not even sure how that would work so i emailed him the letter instead and im sending it certified mail to his adult son and daughters new address tomorrow.  Is that enough or do i have to still send the certified letter to Iraq? I doubt he will give me his address there at this point.

Thanks!

Martha