Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Florida

I moved from an apartment. The landlord sent the notice to impose claim on my security deposit to the wrong address. I never received it. They had my correct address but did not send it correctly (they had the apartment number wrong and there was no such number for delivery). The certified letter came back to them as no such address. After 30 days, I contacted them to inform them they had missed the 30 day window and forfeited my deposit.

They responded that they did in fact send the letter. They never tried to contact me in any other way to inform me of their intent to keep my security deposit. They had all my current phone numbers as well.

Can they use the claim that they did send it to me although the address was wrong? Or can I prevail since I never received anything through no fault of my own and request the full deposit be refunded because of their forfeit in not contacting me? They had my correct new address and did not send it there properly.

Please advise. Thank you.


Asked on 9/17/09, 2:16 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Sarah Grosse Sarah Grosse, Esquire

The LL must send the letter to your last known address. If you actually received it, it doesn't matter that it was addresses to the neighbor. If you never received it, and you had no opportunity to rebut, then the notice was ineffective. But, if you didn't leave a forwarding address, it was effective.

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Answered on 9/17/09, 10:41 pm


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