Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

No matter where you live, you can sue the landlord in small claims court in the county of his residence. Most small claims courts have forms that you just fill out, pay the filing fee and wait until you are notified of a court date.

The landlord is required to either return your deposit or itemize in a written statement how it was sent within one month from the date you moved out. So, it sounds as if this was not done, which would entitle you to an award of three times the amount of the deposit plus attorneys' fees (unless it landlord shows by the preponderance of the evidence that the withholding was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error which occurred in spite of the existence of procedures reasonably designed to avoid such errors). However, keep in mind that if the landlord did not have a forwarding address for you, the landlord could not forward the money and/or statement.

You will have to sue the landlord here in Georgia. A well-written demand letter from an attorney might be a good, relatively inexpensive alternative, which negate having to actual file a lawsuit.

If you would like to discuss any issues further, please feel free to contact my office. The link to my contact information is below. Thank you.

The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relation has been created or should be implied.