Deposit Refund

By RunPrincessRun

I ended my six-month sublease from the main lease holder on this apartment on August 31, 2010.  The security deposit was $700.  I didn’t receive a letter and the remaining deposit until 22 days after my lease ended, and he had deducted $300 from my security deposit.  However, he did not include an itemized list or receipts with the check.  His letter noted that he would provide them at my request.   The only justification he had in the initial letter was that he had to paint the room I was living in to a marketable color.    I did not receive the itemized list and copies of receipts until today, Monday, October 4th. 

He included the receipts, but I noticed that he purchased 2 gallons of paint, even though it would not take 2 gallons of paint to paint the room since it’s a small room.  Additionally, he charged me $75 or labor per day, three days total.   I emailed him to request hte itemized list, and his reason for not including the receipts and justification to begin with was that he was busy.  In the letter I received today, he also said he was giving me reasonable rates for labor and discounted the total by about $55.   He also said that he would follow suit for additional charges that he did not bill against my deposit, including painter’s tape, painter’s tarp, gas and mileage spent on retrieving listed items.  His letter also said that he would "seek restitution for my full day rate for the time spent on restoring the room to it’s original neutrally marketable condition." 

 As far as I could tell when I moved in, the carpet wasn’t steam cleaned, and there were already major stains on it.   I did not take any pictures before hand, so I’m not sure how that would affect my case.    Legally, since he failed to provide the receipts with the initial refund of the security deposit, and I did not receive more than 31 days after I moved out, would the law be on my side?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

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