Overpaid rent....do I have any recourse here?

[mommy111]

We just moved out from our previous rental and I was looking over our contract to figure out how much security I had paid when I realized I had overpaid rent by about $1100 (an extra $100 a month) by mistake. I'm going to talk to the owners about this but knowing how hard a time they've had even just returning our security, I doubt they'll want to return the extra rent. My question was, would you even ask them for the rent back or just eat it up and steam? After all, it was my fault over-paying them although I would have expected them to say something when they found the checks over-written. Second, if I do mention it to them and they decide not to give us back the $$, do I have any recourse? Should I contact the rental realtor? Or just suck it up?
Thank you so much for your advice!!

[Giantbear]

you can sue in small claims court for the money. No one has a right to keep money that does not belong to them

[gatorsmom]

you can sue in small claims court for the money. No one has a right to keep money that does not belong to them

:yeahthat: Depending on how big an outfit they are, if you can get a lawyer simply threatening legal action, it might be enough to get them to pay up.

[mommy111]

:yeahthat: Depending on how big an outfit they are, if you can get a lawyer simply threatening legal action, it might be enough to get them to pay up.

They are an older couple with a number of properties that they rent out. Sometimes kinda out of it, which is partly why we wanted to move, every time we had a Maintenence request like the sink garbage disposal or the dishwasher not working, they wouldn't get it fixed then tried to stick us with a large deduction on security at the end. He used to be a lawyer, though, now he's just old and deaf which is why I never pushed issues with him, I just felt sorry for him. But they're incredibly shrewd and miserly with money and will try to pinch you for every $$ that thy can get.

[3isEnough]

I would wait until they return your security deposit and you resolve any issues related to that, and then write them a letter detailing your claim for the overpaid rent. As a PP said, they can't keep money to which they aren't entitled.

But wait until after the dust settles on the security deposit, otherwise they'll just try to make some money back by deducting from the deposit.