Legal Question

[Pringles]

In November I had rented a cabin for my gf's birthday, November 13th-15th. As part of the rental there was a $100 deposit that was to be refunded. The exact quoting of this agreement.

A $100.00 security deposit is required at time reservation is made for the dates requested. This deposit will be refunded within 7 days of your departure provided no damages occurred during your visit and no violations of policies were made.

Now we left the cabin, cleaned it and followed all the instructions we were supposed to follow. A week went by, I saw nothing in terms of deposit. So I waited 7 business days (Wednesday the 25th) and sent a follow up email about the deposit. I figured I would not hear back til this Monday due to the Holiday. It's now been 2 1/2 weeks since we've left. I've not heard from the cabin owner at all in regards to the deposit. No email returns, no one returned the phone call I left yesterday morning about it.

At what point of no communication do I (if I even can) pursue any legal claims on this. I have a signed contract that includes the part with the deposit in it. They haven't even told me we left the cabin in any state that would void the contract. I know it's only $100, but at the same time we already were over charged an additionally $50 as they charged us at the peak season rate during their so called "off season" and I feel like at this point the cabin owner's are dodging me for some reason, as well as wanting to have that money for Christmas shopping.

[Inshiya]

Can go ahead and file a small claims complaint right now if the 7 days in the contract has passed.

[Ksandra]

I would call first and then if no response, file a claim. They'll want to see that you made good attempts to try and contact the owner first, and just an email isn't really enough imo.

[Acevalefor]

This goes into state rental laws for short-term rental properties. In Oregon, they are required to provide you with documentation of why they are keeping your deposit if that is the case. You then have the right to challenge that if you believe the claim to be false or exaggerated. Regardless of contract terms, they have 30 days to get you your money if they cannot provide documentation for keeping it.

Then you get into the due-diligence portion of it. You cannot just take them to small claims. You have to go through the state and/or local process for filing a dispute. Look it up for your state as I have found that state and local rental laws vary wildly. But be aware that the timeline for resolving these problems is usually 60-120 days.

[Pringles]

Thanks for the advice. As for calling, I called Tuesday at 10:30 in the morning and left them a voicemail kindly inquiring about the status of the deposit being returned. They have yet to call back or email me back.

Tomorrow's my day off, so I'll look into the rental laws for Virginia and see what they have to say. It's more annoying than upsetting. It puts a bit of a tarnish on a great weekend spent at the cabin and it's looking like I won't be using them again in the future if this is the way it's going to settle.

[Pringles]

Turns out I don't need to do anything. Grabbed the mail today and in today's mail was a check for the deposit, postmarked this past Monday. Still a little annoyed that they couldn't have emailed back or returned my call to say there was a check coming in the mail, but I am happy it's been resolved.