Agape Property Management, Central Property Management, Marilyn C. Campbell, Douglas MacArthur Campbell Illegally withholding our security deposit. Central Property Management will not respond to our demand for return of security deposit. Altamonte Springs Florida

My Husband and I rented a house at xx Greenwood St. Orlando FL, 32801 from Agape Property Management DBA Central Property Management for two years. The last lease period was from April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009. We believe that Central Property Management is illegally trying to withhold a deduction from our $1,200 security deposit in the amount of $427.89, as stated in the settlement statement we received from them on 5/4/2009.

As stated on the lease agreement, a security deposit of $950 and pet deposit of $250 is being held in escrow at Sun Trust Bank. We received the settlement statement from Central Property Management via certified mail on 5/4/2009, thirty five (35) days after our lease expired. The settlement statement was postmarked 4/30/2009, which was 31 days after our lease expired.

The settlement statement was addressed and sent to xx Greenwood St via certified mail, which was the property we had previously rented from the Company through March 31, 2009. On three documented occasions, we provided Central Property Management our current forwarding address. By email on 01/26/2009 with our notice of not renewing the lease. Via Certified mail on 01/26/2009 with our notice of not renewing the lease.
Doug Campbell (Property Manager) received our forwarding address when my Husband returned the keys to him on 03/31/2009 at Central Property Managements office. Doug Campbell made a photocopy of the returned keys and the envelope we had written our forwarding address on. Doug signed and dated the photocopy and gave it to my Husband as a receipt.

If we had not put in a forwarding/change of address form with the postal service, the settlement statement would have not reached us since we had not lived at the Greenwood Street address since 03/31/2009, when our lease expired. Why would Central Property Management send the settlement statement to the address that they knew we had not lived at for over a month? We had given them our forwarding address 3 times!

Florida law requires per s. 83.49(3) (a), Florida Statutes that: (3)(a) "Upon the vacating of the premises for termination of the lease, if the landlord does not intend to impose a claim on the security deposit, the landlord shall have 15 days to return the security deposit together with interest if otherwise required, or the landlord shall have 30 days to give the tenant written notice by certified mail to the tenant's last known mailing address of his or her intention to impose a claim on the deposit and the reason for imposing the claim. The notice shall contain a statement in substantially the following form:
This is a notice of my intention to impose a claim for damages in the amount of _____ upon your security deposit, due to _____. It is sent to you as required by s. 83.49(3), Florida Statutes. You are hereby notified that you must object in writing to this deduction from your security deposit within 15 days from the time you receive this notice or I will be authorized to deduct my claim from your security deposit. Your objection must be sent to (landlord's address). If the landlord fails to give the required notice within the 30-day period, he or she forfeits the right to impose a claim upon the security deposit.

Because Central Property Management failed to comply with the statute, they forfeit their right to impose a claim upon our security deposit. We did not receive the required notice within the 30 day period.

Central Property did not send the deposit claim notice with an official stated amount. It was stated on the bottom of the letter that These are only estimates. The total will change, when the actual invoices arrive. It does not state anywhere in the Florida statutes that the landlord will impose an estimated claim on the security deposit. If they send out settlement statements to all of their tenants with that language and no one objects to a claim, it gives Central Property Management license to deduct whatever they wish from the deposit.

That does not seem to be an ethical or legal business practice. The claim notice was also not sent to our last known address, as required by the statute. It was sent to the address where we had rented the property from Central Property Management. Hopefully they knew we weren't living there any longer!

Central Property did not send us a letter pursuant to s.83.49(2)(a)(b). We never received notice as to the address of the depository where our advance security deposit is being held.

We sent Central Property Management the required notice via certified mail prior to time specified in the lease agreement (sixty days) of our intention not to renew the lease - as acknowledged by their letter dated 02/02/2009. We complied with all of the terms outlined in the lease agreement. We were not given the opportunity to be present at the move out inspection, as documented in an email my Husband sent to Marilyn Campbell (President) on 04/03/2009, which we never received a response to.

We had tried to set up a move out inspection with Doug and Marilyn Campbell numerous, documented times since 01/26/2009. We feel that not allowing us to be present at the move-out inspection was done in bad faith on the part of Central Property Management.

We left the property at xx Greenwood Street in better shape than it was when we moved in. This is documented with extensive photos that we took when we moved in and again when we moved out. We provided Doug Campbell a photo CD of all the move-in photos. Doug Campbell was not even present at the move-in inspection. He had us fill out a move-in inspection form to bring to the office, so the only proof of the condition of the house at move-in was what we filled out on the inspection form and the photos we provided him.

Regardless of the fact that Central Property Management/Marilyn Campbell did not send a claim on the security deposit in the proper timeframe or format, the deductions claimed were invalid. The following is our response to the vague descriptions of the items that were listed on the settlement statement that Central Property wishes to impose a claim on.

Late fees: 1 @ $47.50:We have always delivered our rent to them on time and have never been notified prior to the settlement statement of any late fees. We have copies of all the cancelled checks to prove this.

Cleaning, interior $175.00: We cleaned the house thoroughly and did not leave anything in need of cleaning. We have extensive time/date stamped photos taken just prior to our move out to demonstrate this.

Yards, cleanup $200.00: We mowed, trimmed hedges, weeded, edged etc. and left nothing in need of clean-up just prior to moving. We have extensive time/date stamped photos taken just prior to our move out to demonstrate this.

Certified Mail $5.39:We are being charged for certified mail costs for the notification that did not reach us or was sent out within 30 days of our lease ending. Also, the charge on the settlement statement is for $5.39 when it is clearly stamped on the postage that they paid $5.32 to send the letter.

The bottom line of our complaint is that Central Property Management/Marilyn Campbell is illegally withholding our security deposit. We sent a certified letter in response to Central Property's Settlement Statement on 05/04/2009 responding to let them know that we do not authorize any deductions from our security deposit. In our letter we requested that they respond and return our full deposit of $1,200 within 5 days. Our response letter was received in Central Property's office on 05/06/2009 (signed for by E-Steele). As of today, 05/26/2009, they have not responded to our letter or returned any of our security deposit.

I will be emailing Marilyn and Doug Campbell directly after I file this report to let them know it has been filed, so they may respond if they wish. Hopefully, they will do the right thing and return our entire deposit. If we do not receive it, we will be filing against them in small claims court. We think it is ridiculous to have to go that far, wasting our time and money to claim what is rightfully ours. Central Property Management, Marilyn Campbell or Doug Campbell, please respond and please return our security deposit of $1,200 in full.

JB & PG
Winter Park, Florida
U.S.A.