jackieblue1966
New Member
My mother moved out of her apartment on August 1, 2009 to move to Texas to live with my brother.
The apartment was well cleaned and did not require painting...the manager of the apartments did a walk-through with her and was satisfied that she would receive her full security deposit.
She left her forwarding address in Texas with the landlord, manager and also with me (I still live in the same apartment complex, and the landlord and manager are aware that I'm her daughter).
The law in Wisconsin states that the landlord has 21 days to either return the deposit, or to send a letter stating why the deposit is not being refunded. The tenant has the right according to this law, to sue the landlord for twice the amount of the deposit if no contact has been made within the 21 days.
She did not receive any reply whatsoever from the landlord within the 21 days, and subsequently submitted a letter to him re-requesting the refund of her deposit.
She finally received a letter from the landlord in October of 2009. The landlord said that since he had purchased the property in a "sheriff's sale", that the responsibility for returning the security deposit is NOT his. He stated that she should try to get the security deposit from her previous landlord before him.
Side note: When my mother moved into the apartments, they were owned by "Duey", who sold them to "Eric" and "Sally" a couple years later, and then RE-PURCHASED by "Duey" when Eric & Sally could no longer afford the payments. So, basically, she PAID the security deposit to Duey the first time he owned the building, remained there through the sale to Eric & Sally and through the re-purchase of the building by Duey.
Does the responsibility for payment of the security deposit belong to the current owner or to the previous owner?
The apartment was well cleaned and did not require painting...the manager of the apartments did a walk-through with her and was satisfied that she would receive her full security deposit.
She left her forwarding address in Texas with the landlord, manager and also with me (I still live in the same apartment complex, and the landlord and manager are aware that I'm her daughter).
The law in Wisconsin states that the landlord has 21 days to either return the deposit, or to send a letter stating why the deposit is not being refunded. The tenant has the right according to this law, to sue the landlord for twice the amount of the deposit if no contact has been made within the 21 days.
She did not receive any reply whatsoever from the landlord within the 21 days, and subsequently submitted a letter to him re-requesting the refund of her deposit.
She finally received a letter from the landlord in October of 2009. The landlord said that since he had purchased the property in a "sheriff's sale", that the responsibility for returning the security deposit is NOT his. He stated that she should try to get the security deposit from her previous landlord before him.
Side note: When my mother moved into the apartments, they were owned by "Duey", who sold them to "Eric" and "Sally" a couple years later, and then RE-PURCHASED by "Duey" when Eric & Sally could no longer afford the payments. So, basically, she PAID the security deposit to Duey the first time he owned the building, remained there through the sale to Eric & Sally and through the re-purchase of the building by Duey.
Does the responsibility for payment of the security deposit belong to the current owner or to the previous owner?
