Will This Go To Court?
We only accept cases in which the landlord has clearly violated state and/or local statutes regarding security deposits. And for that reason, 98% of all cases that we accept are settled without going to court. Landlords realize that have already lost and thier attorneys advise them to pay back the deposit or they will pay much higher penalties as well as court costs. In the rare instance that your case needs to go to court, your case files are transferred to an associate attorney who will contact you directly.
Why Are Most Complaints Settled Quickly Out Of Court?
We only accept applications that we have throughly researched and verified to insure your deposit was illegally withheld and that the act is clearly a violation of the laws for your state. For that reason, landlords and their attorneys quickly understand that they will end up paying much more than the deposit. Depending on the state, they face having to pay up to three times the amount of the deposit, all legal fees and additional court costs.
Why Can’t Landlords Rent Property Until This Is Settled?
Nobody will want to rent this property when they “google” the address or the name of the landlord or the phone numbers, etc and they find out that this landlord is breaking the law by taking security deposits illegally. Complete documentation of the landlords illegal activity will be right at the top of the search engines for everyone to see. And by everyone, we mean everyone. Those looking to rent, the landlords friends and family, the landlords business assocaites and nieghbors and so on.
What Penalties Do Landlords Face If They Don’t Pay?
Reputation Penalties
We employ public awareness warnings using the latest social media, search engine marketing and optimization techniques. These warnings include the name of the landlord, the property addresses, phone numbers, and any other names and addresses associated with property and dispute. Out technical team posts these warnings across multiple channels on the Internet and optimizes these posts to insure that anyone who searches for property or landlord/company information will find these complaints at the top of the search engine listings as well as on socal media accounts.
Penalties for Fair Housing Violations – HUD
- A charge by the U.S. Departing of Housing and Urban Development where landlords attend several hearings and defend the claim in from of a HUD Administrative Law Judge.
- Security Deposit Refund Organization is considered a ‘Fair Housing Watchdog Group’. We file complaints on the behalf of tenants on a national level.
Monetary Penalties
Include such things as court costs, attorney fees, fines and additional late fees.
- Civil penalties may be levied up to $16,000 for a first violation and $65,000 for future violations. In cases where the Justice Department is involved civil penalties can be even more and go up to $100,000.
How Much Does It Cost?
Each case is considered on a case by case basis.
Costs vary from a minumum of $49 or as much as 33% of the deposit amount.If your case requires Associate Attorney Action:
Complete case documentation, including the certified letters that we sent out on your behalf, is prepared for transfer to an affiliate attorney for the appropriate state/city local area for your case. Fee agreements are made between you and the affiliate attorney who receives your case. Should you choose to move forward with a different attorney, complete case documentation will be transferred on request.We receive a large number of fraudulent, unverifiable, and unqualified applications each month. Verified documentation has significantly reduced the amount of bogus application claims and has allowed us to focus on claims that deserve our time.
- More than 600 applications are submitted to us each month. Each one is screened by hand, to identify only the applications that meet our criteria for further processing.
- HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY – Do not apply unless you have a legitimate dispute. Do not embellish or stretch the truth on your application in any way or your application may be rejected.
What If The Home Is In Foreclosure?
It makes no difference at all. The landlord is still responsible to return your deposit.
What If The Landlord or Property Company Files Bankruptcy?
This has non bearing on matter. It makes no difference. They are still responsible to return your deposit.
How Long Does It Take?
Landlords respond to our letters quickly. Once they learn how they have violated the state statute and could be made to pay additional penalties, they are motivated to send your deposit back. The money is sent directly to you.
