A letter worth writing
It's now more than two and a half months since I moved out of my old apartment in eastern Portland to my current, somewhat more expensive but far pleasanter one. During that time there has been one item of unfinished business -- the deposit of $585.00 I'd put down on the old apartment when I moved into it, which had still not been refunded. On August 3 I sent the old landlord a letter, enclosing documentation of the fact that there had been a deposit, and politely asking for my money back. There was no response.
Over the Labor Day weekend I wrote another letter, which ended with the following ("ORS" stands for "Oregon Revised Statute" -- this is the format in which Oregon state laws are cited):
According to ORS 90.300[10-11], you are supposed to refund the deposit (or give an accounting of why it was not refunded) within 31 days of move-out, provided the tenant has turned in the keys and given a forwarding address. I turned in the keys and gave a forwarding address on June 15. It is now long past 31 days after June 15, and you’ve had plenty of time since my August 3 letter to send a refund. According to ORS 90.300[14], I am thus entitled to pursue legal action to recover twice the amount wrongfully withheld. I'd rather not go through that hassle, but I am not going to let this issue drop. Please refund my deposit immediately upon receipt of this letter, and that will be the end of it.
Thank you for your attention.
[Signed]
I mailed this letter on Tuesday.
The refund check for $585.00 was in my PO box today.
Over the Labor Day weekend I wrote another letter, which ended with the following ("ORS" stands for "Oregon Revised Statute" -- this is the format in which Oregon state laws are cited):
According to ORS 90.300[10-11], you are supposed to refund the deposit (or give an accounting of why it was not refunded) within 31 days of move-out, provided the tenant has turned in the keys and given a forwarding address. I turned in the keys and gave a forwarding address on June 15. It is now long past 31 days after June 15, and you’ve had plenty of time since my August 3 letter to send a refund. According to ORS 90.300[14], I am thus entitled to pursue legal action to recover twice the amount wrongfully withheld. I'd rather not go through that hassle, but I am not going to let this issue drop. Please refund my deposit immediately upon receipt of this letter, and that will be the end of it.
Thank you for your attention.
[Signed]
I mailed this letter on Tuesday.
The refund check for $585.00 was in my PO box today.
posted by Infidel753 at 2:31 PM
3 Comments:
Good for you Infidel,because many folks get the run around and give up.Not unless it's one of them higher class places,but I know many here in Texas for instance,that got run arounds.We have some laws,which I am not up on as far as the state.But also I heard the stories of complexes saying after a tenant left that they had to repair this or that or clean or somehting...and mark up the deduction for the services 300-400%..and folks gave up on the remainder,when in actuality,they hired some alien off the street corner to clean up and make ready and pay them something like $5 hr cash...because they are illegal.Or pick up homeless panhandlers to do it for like $20 and a burger and fries.You can bet that if you wouldnt have told them that in specific about the law..they probably would have railroaded you.
Yay! That is good news! I will show this post to the two people who have moved out of my Apartment building & not received their refund yet after over a month.
Touch wood, I always got my deposit back in time !!!
But, sometimes one needs to quote the law and threaten people to go to the courts to get something petty things get done.
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