How long before my landlord should return my security deposit?
March 29th, 2011 | 
Author: I moved out of my apartment May 24th and still have not recieved my security deposit. My lease says the landlord shall return the security deposit in “reasonable time.” As I understand it, her husband is an attorney therefore the lease is very secure. Anyway, I (and my roomates) have contacted her several times already. She responded the first time stating that the checks would be mailed the week of June 11th. She lives in Texas so I gave it more than enough time to arrive (over a week) and it still hadn’t come. I then emailed her again and she said that she had just recieved our last water bill and she would send the checks along with copies of the water bill after processing that. (For our last water bill, which gets sent to her, she deducts the amount of the bill from our sec. deposit which was agreed upon at a previous time). Anyway, that was almost three weeks ago. It seems that she keeps making excuses, is there anything I can do because contacting her is not working.
I forgot to mention I am a college student living in a college town in new york. My landlord lives in texas and we have had nothing but problems with her since we moved in.
I just emailed her again and she apologized for the delay stating she has been out of town. she said she will mail the check tomorrow. 
hopefully she’s sincere this time.
Posted in Landlord Tenant Law
unfortunately, it sounds like you are going to get screwed on your security deposit . . . you can seek legal aid on this but might cost you more than your security deposit refund
This is the way it goes with my lease. Basically states that if we move, after he inspects and all, he has 10 days to get our deposit to us. As long as we’ve fulfilled our end of the deal,of course.
But, one lady we rented off was the way the one you’re talking about. Needless to say, we never got our deposit back. She even admitted to using it for a vacation. So good luck to you. And honestly, I would take the lease to an attorney and have them do your contacting for you. Even better if the person you go to knows her, she’ll want to clear it up quicker so they don’t think badly of her.
first your landlord is dictated by the law of NY in regard to security deposit returns, a quick search on the Internet should provided you with the information you need, you will need to keep the envelope from the landed with the security deposit to demonstrate when the ll mailed the statement, the stamp date
doesn’t matter where the landlord reside he/she must aided by the statutory requirements for notification or notice of security deposit usually 30 days, if outside file in small claims court for treble security deposit as required by state law
Most courts interpret “reasonable time” to be 30 days. I used to be a landlord in TX never saw a pro-forma lease that said anyting but 30 days.
Normally, if the landlord doesn’t return your security deposit with an accounting of any deductions within 30 days, they forfeit the right to withhold even legitimate deductions.
If the property is in NY, then NY law applies. NY law provides a strict 30 day requirement. You might want to get an attorney to write a letter, and add his fee to the security deposit refund.
Each State has different laws regarding “reasonable time” for returning damage deposits. I researched it in Indiana (I’m working from memory so I may be off by a day or two)when a past landlord kept putting me off on returning the deposit, the landlord has 14 days from the time they received the keys back to make a post move-out inspection and return the check or advise you in writing with an itemized statement that either the entire deposit or portion of the deposit is being forfeited and why. If the landlord fails to do this within the allotted time, 100% of your deposit must be returned to you whether there are outstanding water bills, unpaid rent, damages or other items of responsibility.
The best advise I can give you is to search your state’s laws on rentals and landlords to see if there is a time limit. If your landlord has violated the time line I’d sue in small claims court avoiding the expense of an attorney, multiple filing and other costs. Being that your landlord is in Texas, it would be in their best interest to just send you the check rather than having the inconvenience of traveling for court dates, paying an attorney if they couldn’t be there and holding up the possibility of re-renting the property until resolved in court.