Security Deposit Timing

[Byron Cleary]

I moved out of the prior property I was a tenant at on 6-30-2019.  My original tenancy started on 2-1-2016 as part of a 2 year lease.  I went month to month after that.  Anyways, after moving out I never received any type of notice that my security deposit was being used in full and that additional payment was requested until August 2nd.  From my understand since in Kansas a landlord has only 30 days to supply a list of damages or return the deposit, I've been told he can no longer actually withhold my deposit or ask for additional damages payment.  Also that I can sue him for 2.5 times my deposit for not holding to the Kansas statute.  Does anyone know of any of this is true or how I should proceed?

[Andrew B.]

Originally posted by @Byron Cleary:

I feel clarification is needed.  Upon moving out and several weeks passing with no corrospondence from my landlord, I sent him a text message asking about how and when my deposit would be returned to myself.  He messaged back that they were still working on repairs and that any deposit remaining/itemized list of repairs would be sent out once completed but no more than 30 days of my lease and tenancy ending.  This was the first time the 30 days was mentioned to me.  More time passed until we went over the 30 days he mentioned.  At this point I looked up Kansas statutes since he wasn't responding to new messages I had sent.  Eventually a day or two later he asked for my email address and the following day sent me an email with an attached excel document with all repairs and cost listed out.  I strongly disagreed with atleast half of his document, even meeting him to review it.  At that time we made a verbal agreement to just call it a wash with him retaining the deposit as payment in full.  He was going to have an attorney draft something up to sign to this affect.  A few days later he comes back and now says after thinking about it he wants an additional $350.  Now I originally agreed to the verbal wash, not because I agreed to the damage but because I just wanted to move on and not spend time on this.  So that's where I am now.  I do not know whether to sue him for going over the 30 days, to wait and see if he sues me.  He provided no receipts for anything and 70 hours of the excel document are for cleaning.  That part is mostly false, as the property was 90% clean when I moved out.... So yup, that's where we are now.

The key thing here is that you cannot merge all these issues together. They must be evaluated separately.

First issue is timing. Did he provide the statement within the correct time frame? By your admission, your last day was 6/30/2019, and you received the statement on 8/2/19. That's 33 days. I think its reasonable for us to believe that he mailed it out on day 30, mainly because you have not proven otherwise. If you have the envelope you received it in, it should have a post date on it. If that date is 31 days or more, you have a case. If not, you can pursue.

Second issue is your verbal agreement to call it a wash and walk away. Unfortunately, verbal agreements are difficult to enforce, especially when there is no consideration (something of value) exchanged. His agreement to "let you walk" provides nothing of value to him, to it is difficult to convince a court of law to agree that his agreement to lose out on money is legally binding. A great way to prevent this from being a problem would have been to ask him to send you an email or text, or write out a quick agreement on a sheet of paper stating the agreement. Without "something" it is he said she said.

Third issue is the actual charges. IMO, given your description, this may be the only area that you have a chance of fighting back on. The thing about security deposit deductions, is that the court usually leans toward the tenant unless the landlord has before/after photos showing the condition of the property at move in, and the damage caused on move-out. If the landlord has these, I would not recommend fighting. If you have photo proof that something was NOT damaged and you are being billed for it, you FIGHT the hell out of that, as I despise landlords who take advantage of tenants. If neither party has photos of anything, it is another he said she said, and the result will probably depend on whether or not your state is landlord or tenant friendly as that's a judgement call on the judge's part. This is why its recommended that landlords and tenants both take detailed photos of property condition before moving in and after moving out.
Also, you mention he is charging you for $70 hours of cleaning. Again if you have proof that the property was in good condition, fight that. Another thing to consider is did he do the cleaning himself or hire someone? If he has a valid invoice from a company, and no one has photo evidence otherwise, work was performed and the judge may side with him as we would assume a reputable company would not spend 70 hours cleaning an already cleaned unit. On the other hand, if he did this himself and is billing you for his own time, that is a state specific issue. Some states allow a landlord to bill a tenant for his time while others do not consider a landlords time to charge for their time.

If I you feel strongly that you are in the right after reviewing all that, and you don't wanna deal with the headache) tell him you are still willing to call it even and walk away. He likely will not file a suit in small claims for $350. If he does, you can fight it then, and possibly countersue for whatever you believe is right.

Unfortunately, there are many factors that effect this and its difficult to give a clear answer without reviewing MANY details. If you are still unsure, your local municipality may have free/reduced price legal aid for tenants in tenant/landlord disputes. You could start there.

Of course, I am not a lawyer, and this should not be considered legal advice.