Help! Landlord keeps security deposit

[mepicchi]

Hello everyone. I am in a sticky situation. We moved into a rental house last year in June. The Landlord seemed very nice, on top of things that needed to be repaired, always available. Our lease was month to month. We had a big and bad mold issue in the house which he repaired over a seven weeks period (it was a huge mess, our masterbathroom was not usable for 7 weeks, and neither was our masterbedroom due to all the exposure). Me and my 3 year old son always had health issues while living there, and so we decided to move out. Our Landlord never did a walkthrough with us, just told us to leave the keys and pull the door shut. Then, we didn't hear from him, and we kept calling him regarding our security deposit, which was $1100. He never called back or answered the phone, until I used a different phone to call him and he didn't recognize the number. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and asked him if he didn't have our new address. He said he didn't, which was not true. Anyways, 2 days later we thought we got our security deposit back in the mail, but instead it was a list with charges like: cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, cutting bushes and grass, cleaning windows, painting walls, and flea extermination (my animals are on monthly flea prevention, and we had monthly pest control in the house and yard). He statet that these charges exceed our security deposit, and he is not done yet. The list he provided us was printed from a "landlord protection agency" website, and is to be used as "in case you don't clean my house, this is what I am going to charge you".
Just to let you know, we were previous home owners, and very responsible. We are very clean, and treated the house and landlord with respect. When we moved out, we cleaned the entire house. The house was in better shape when we left, than it was when we moved in (it was really dirty when we moved in, the landlord evicted the previous tenants because they were alcoholics and "trashed" the house (according to the landlord) and we had to cleane for days). Our neighbors were always thankful of how we cared for the yard, we always kept it up very nicely. We actually cut the grass 2 days before we moved out. These claimes he makes are really not true. Why did he not call us to tell us that there are things in the house he is unhappy with, and we need to take care of it, or he will charge us? Why did he not do a walkthrough with us? Probably my big mistake, but this was my first time renting from a Landlord, and I just didn't think about it, especially since he was so nice the whole time! He even voiced several times how much he appreciated us as tenants!
Sorry, long story, I am kind of venting. I just don't know what to do. This is a lot of money, which I can not afford to just throw away! What can I do? There were actually 3 guys that helped us move, who all saw that I was cleaning the house!
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
By the way, he did not sent his claims via certified mail. But I did call him right away. He would have had 30 days to send me these claimes.
I have 15 days to reply by Florida law, and if I don't, he is allowed to use my security deposit. But the way he presented it, he already used our money! Help please!

R.D.

 

[MorgansDaddy]

I'm not real clear, did he send the list of damages within 30 days? I am guessing it is safe to say you did not take pictures after you were done cleaning? Those would have come in handy shall you ever end up in court. The movers may work as witnesses but pictures or video is always the best way to go. If he sent you the list within 30 days, send him a response via certified mail with return receipt disputing the claims and demanding return of security deposit within, lets say two weeks. If it was over 30 days, still send him the response the same way but state Florida law, and that his time to make any claims against the security deposit has passed and he is no longer allowed to use any of the money for any claims for damages. Keep any and all records of any correspondences between you and him. You are correct on having 15 days to respond so don't waste any time. If he doesn't return your money to your satisfaction within the reasonable time that you request in your demand letter, you will then have to decide if it is worth going to small claims court, which still doesn't mean you will see a penny, you will, if you prevail, have a piece of paper saying he owes you the money. It will then be up to you to try to collect on the judgment.