Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Disputed payment of last months rent

I shared a house w/3 friends. We gave notice we were moving out (Aug 2003). Landlord said she had only received 3/4 of the last months rent. As we moved in 3+ years prior & it would take time to get proof, we wrote a check for the 1/4 of the rent she said was missing & a check for the damage deposit, telling her we would get copies of the checks we thought we had paid. When we moved out, she said the house was fine and never cashed the damage deposit check.

In Oct 2003 we obtained proof that we had paid first/last & $75 of deposit in June/July 2001. We sent a letter & copies of the checks in Nov. I called Jan. 9th to request the refund. She started by saying ''this was too far after the fact'', then it was ''that you really couldn't tell when the checks had been cashed'' & finally she was using ''the current tennants were not happy with the cleanliness, so she was considering it payment for damages''. I persisted, she agreed to a refund, but no check has arrived. Do we have any other options besides small claims court or a lawyer? As she never gave us a receipt for our deposit payments or notice within 14 days of leaving that she wanted to keep some of our damage deposit, is she at fault?


Asked on 2/05/04, 8:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Busch Bruce R. Busch, Attorney at Law

Re: Disputed payment of last months rent

It appears you have a fairly good case -- of course I am only hearing one side of the story. I think Small Claims Court would be a perfect arena for this issue. There is no LEGAL way you can obtain payment prior to obtaining a judgment in small claims court or regular district or superior court. You can make a demand and see if she pays but you've done that. You can also hire an attorney to send a simple demand letter but that will most likely cost you about $100. I think small claims court is your best option.

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Answered on 2/05/04, 8:56 pm


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