Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

Re: In Collection

First off, February of 2001 to August of 2006 is 5 and 1/2 years, so the statute has not yet run.

*IF* you had a written contract they can try to collect it.

You need to go read RCW 59.18.260, .270 and .280.

First issue is whether there was a walk through checklist attached to your contract. If there was , then they can take a deposit.

They have to tell you where the deposit is kept.

At the end of the tenancy they have to provide another walk through checklist, and they *MUST* notify you within 14 days of their decision as to what they are going to do with the deposit.

They need to be able to back it up with invoices, not just self serving conclusions about the cost of repairs. Also, they cannot charge you for normal wear and tear, only for damage.

I wish you were asking these questions in March of 2001, though.

The collection agency is sort of correct, in that pre-judgement interest could run at 12%, but they have to prove that they are entitled to it first.

The rental application is not the correct answer to your request for verification of the debt. If that is all they have they cannot prove their case.

There is a lot more to this. There are good sites on the internet about collections outfits; some are legit, some are not.

Your landlord wrote off this alleged debt long ago; if you had actually damaged the place they would have come after you.

Chances are the collectors purchased the debt for pennies on the dollar. Any money you voluntarily cough up will go partly to the landlord and partly to the collector.

But I am not sure that the landlord has enough proof to take you to court, which is probably why they are trying a private enforcement action, rather than taking you to court.

You should be very careful about taking legal advice from people who claim you owe them money. They have no vested interest in laying out both sides of the equation, just in convincing you of the validity of their position.

Based on what you said, sounds as if you are handling this just right.

Be sure that all your communications to the collectors are in writing.

Powell