Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

I will assume you had a lease in writing and there was a provision in it regarding posting a security deposit and how you were supposed to get it back. I will assume this is a single family home not subject to the Illinois Return of Security Deposit laws. I will assume after you moved out you received the $1,300.00 check with some written communication itemizing the deducts that the landlord made. You deposited the check, but it bounced. The landlord then replaced the check to cover the $1,300.00 AND your NSF charges, and you deposited it too. Now you learn the original check would be good (for how long you don't say) if you redeposited it.

Technically, when you deposited the $1,300.00 check you may have accepted that amount as the net amount due you as a refund of your security deposit. When it bounced, as a check, the landlord breached its implied promise that the check would be good and the landlord made good on it by replacing it and covering your NSF charge "damages" which would suggest you accepted $1,300 a SECOND time as the net amount due you as a refund of your security deposit PLUS $35 as your damages for the NSF charges. Now you want to deposit the original check and want to know what the repercussions might be. If I were the landlord, I'd sue you for $1,300.00 on the grounds that you had accepted that sum twice (effectively) as the amount of security deposit you were entitled to get back. Without more information I can't say whether the landlord might have other recourse against you.

What you omit are not only the above details, but also what the "bogus charges" were (which suggests you were given an itemized list, which further strengthens the landlord's case), and any other correspondence or evidence that may have been involved. You also do not provide any of the relevant lease language, which could identify whether the landlord followed the lease or not in making the reduced return to you. And you do not indicate whether you communicated in writing with the landlord that you would only accept this amount as "on account of" the total you believe was and is due you, before you deposited the check(s).

PS if you don't have the money you may be able to file the small claims case as a "poor person" and get filing fees waived......