Landlord keeping a deposit?

[beng]

When I moved into my apt, I had bad credit. In order to get the apt I agreed to pay an extra $550 deposit because of the bad credit. The contract states that upon on-time payment of rent for 12 months, that the deposit will be returned. One month a check bounced. It was the banks fault and I presented the landlord and property manager with a written notice of apology from my bank. First they offered $300 back, now they offer $400. The property manager claims that although it was the banks fault, techinically, the payment was recieved late and therefor I am not entitle dto the full $550. Is this legal?! It seems very unscrupulous to me. Please help!

thanks,
A poor poor student.

 

[jon_]

It sounds like they are taking definitely taking advantage of your situation. Unfortunately too many landlords dare depositors to take them to court and the law does not punish landlords severely enough for this to be a preventative measure. Most important is to look at the words on the contract.

If you really want to look at words, if you are guaranteeing that the landlord will receive cash on a certain day, then a breach by a third party that causes you to be late with providing them with cash may give you a remedy against the bank who may have caused a breach by you. I would think that it does not require cash. It may say that payment must be made by a certain day (offering a valid check would qualify as payment) and that the error that occurred at the bank did not affect the validity of your payment on that day. But this probably isn't about law unfortunately....

They should give you the 550. If they completely refuse and will give you 400 without signing anything, then you might want to take it and sue them in small claims and ask for punitive damages. Report them to your local governmental authority (you should find a dept. of housing online). Beware of any check that says "paid in full" or some other statement like that or else you might be precluded from suing for the rest. Small claims is a good remedy for something like this. It's cheap and you can inflict damage against unscrupulous people and you should catch a sympathetic ear.