Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

Re: security deposit refund check with stipulation

Within five days of receiving your notice of intent to vacate the premises, the landlord was required to inform you of your right to be present at an inspection of the house in order to determine what damages should be deducted from your security deposit. Under the VRLTA this inspection was to have occurred no later than 72 hours of your delivery of possession of the property to the landlord.

Furthermore, under VRLTA, during the course of your tenancy, the landlord was required to notify you within 30 days for each determination he made regarding damages which were to be deducted from your security deposit. This requirement is suspended for damages determined less than 30 days from the date of lease termination (as these are supposed to be included in the exit inspection described above).

Also, under VRLTA, you should've received from the landlord within five days of your moving into the house, a list of the damages which existed at that time(which you could not be held responsible for)and which you had five days to respond to if the list was inaccurate.

If the landlord failed to comply with any of the above which are required under VRLTA, these would constitute grounds to challenge the landlord's seizure of 2/3 of your security deposit. Also, any claims for damages which are clearly excessive could be challenged.

You can cash the landlord's check without compromising your legal claims by asserting a reservation of rights on the instrument.

You do this by including under your endorsing signature the following notation:

"all rights reserved".

There is no need to send the landlord separate notice by letter of your intent to reserve your rights to assert claims against the landlord.(You should, however, make a copy for your records of both sides of the check before cashing it.)