I am in a small claims court suit with a former landlord who did not return my security deposit for 90 days, then returned a fraction of it and refused to show receipts. We had a scheduled court date, which I showed up for ready to present my case, that they rescheduled. Last week I got in a bad car accident in which many documents were either damaged beyond repair or went missing when we were trying to clear snow out of the car. All my information about the case (my signed lease, her dated letter and her dated uncashed check) is now missing. How am I to support my case now? I am a student and had a person at my University in charge of off campus housing attempt to open communication (in order to avoid court) who had copies, however she has not gotten back to me on whether she kept them or not as it has been a few months. Should I get a signed letter from her stating what the lease said, that she saw the signed and dated lease and also bring in a police report for the accident? I am very concerned that I will now get NONE of my deposit back as I have no proof I was on a lease other than my cashed checks paying rent.
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Small Claims Court- Supporting Documents lost in car accident, now what?
- Thread Starter warpspeed
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mightymoose
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Don't worry too much. State law controls the manner in which deposits are returned. No matter what your lease may have said about the deposit, the law will take precedence. The landlord will still have a copy of the lease anyway.
Your argument is that the landlord did not return your deposit in a timely manner and did not provide documentation of deductions when the deposit eventually came.
The landlord will have to show that payment was in fact made within the specified time (likely 20-30 days) and will still have to provide receipts for any deductions.
The landlord will not be able to produce any canceled checks proving that you received payment.
Hopefully you can find copies of any correspondence that took place over this- that was an oversight on your part to only have the one copy in your vehicle. You can still bring your argument though. A statement from your friend as you suggest doesn't really have much value here. The court will want to see proof of payment by a specific date and receipts for deductions- and that all falls on the landlord.
Your argument is that the landlord did not return your deposit in a timely manner and did not provide documentation of deductions when the deposit eventually came.
The landlord will have to show that payment was in fact made within the specified time (likely 20-30 days) and will still have to provide receipts for any deductions.
The landlord will not be able to produce any canceled checks proving that you received payment.
Hopefully you can find copies of any correspondence that took place over this- that was an oversight on your part to only have the one copy in your vehicle. You can still bring your argument though. A statement from your friend as you suggest doesn't really have much value here. The court will want to see proof of payment by a specific date and receipts for deductions- and that all falls on the landlord.
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Gail_in_Georgia
Moderator
New York (unlike most states) does not have a set time period when a landlord has to return a security deposit/information of such to a former tenant, only requiring that it be returned within a "reasonable" period of time. As a general rule, this "reasonable" amount of time is considered to be 30 to 60 days but it is up to the court to determine this.
If your argument includes your contention that an unfair amount was kept from your security deposit, the landlord will need to prove to the court that the amount kept was reasonable and justified for actual damages (and not for say, normal wear and tear).
Gail
If your argument includes your contention that an unfair amount was kept from your security deposit, the landlord will need to prove to the court that the amount kept was reasonable and justified for actual damages (and not for say, normal wear and tear).
Gail
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