My landlord gave me back my security deposit then cancelled it without notice days later....?

My lease was up and my landlord had soemone coming in just days later so we agreed to do the inspection and walk through the day my lease ended. He did a very thorough inspection and even said he brought his cleaning supplies but the place looked so good he didnt need to do anything. I am a neat freak and kept the place very clean. At the end of the inspection he wrote me a check for for my security deposit and we shook on it and good riddens. It was over his new tenants were to move in 3 days later. I did not give him a forwarding address because there was nothing left to do and he did not ask for one. By the way he did have both my email addresses, my cell phone number and he was a friend on my facebook. I deposited the check that same day. Four days later I get a text msg from him stating the new tenants that are in there complained of urine stains and a panel on the outside of the door was chewed. He asked me to hold the check until he could drive back up later that week(he lived over an hour away) and check it out. I was furious by this. Our dog has never peed in the house he is 7 years old and wont even chew on a toy, never has. I will back up a little. The prior tenants got a puppy behind his back and peed everywhere, so bad he had to replace the upstairs carpets and kept her whole deposit for damages. What the heck was the point of the inspection. He cannot come after me after the fact and new tenants already in. The proof he was happy was the check he didnt have to write me if he wasnt happy. I stated all this in my text back and said he was happy he was very thorough. He stated several times the carpets looked great ( i have a witness that was there for the inspection). I wasnt sure what he was talking about that was chewed. I told him our relationship as tenant and landlord were over he wrote the check i deposited it and we were done with the issue.


Over a month later exactly 30 days infact I get a call from my bank that the check I deposited a month ago was stopped and withdrawn from my account. He stooped payment on the check 5 days later after our text. This was August 23, showed up on my account September 23rd and today is November and I have heard nothing from until last week when I emailed him. I waited for him to contact me from september 23rd until I finally did last week. I got a respond from him via email stating he did it because he feels there was damage to carpet and the trim. There was no damage at all the carpets looked excellent. He also owes us over $250 for a water bill he made us pay ahead of time. When I moved out he prorated the water bill b/c it comes in quarters for $250. We had to pay this to him even though I told him our bill has never been this high and we were only 3 days into the new quarter, the most we would owe was $10. He took this out of the security deposit at the time of closing. He stated in his response back to me he owed this to us and woudl refund it if we dropped everything. He owes us our whole security deposit I feel and not to mention the financial damage he created when our accoutn was short over a thousand dollars. We still cant catch up. I am getting ideas and suggestions but no real legal advice. Do I risk sewing him. He said if I do he will go after all kinds of stuff he didnt even lsit as damage. I live in michigan. Online it says the steps and one is that I have to give a return address but I didnt because we were done and he wanted to do the inspection on that day. No where in our lease agreement does it say to give forwardign address too, there was no need in our case. Any help appreciated greatly!!!|||Hi, You can stop payment on a check however, it could turn out to be considered a criminal offense in some situations. His giving you the check after he completely inspected the residence says that he found nothing wrong at that time. Once he gave you the check, that was, in essence, his agreement that the condition of the residence met his approval. He cannot go back and say there were damages, or stop payment on the check, when he personally inspected the residence. If he did not notice that damage during the inspection, then how can he say it is all of a sudden visible. . Call the prosecuting attorney's office or, better yet, go there and ask what your rights are under Michigan law. That's where you will get the absolute best information. Let's say, for instance, if I were to buy a car and I drove it, I looked it over really well, I looked under the hood and found nothing wrong with the car then, I wrote a check for it. A few days later, the water pump went out. So, I stopped payment on the check. The law covers these things because by me giving the check to the previous owner I'm saying that I agree that the car is in good condition. Deal done! JOSA|||It's not your fault that the landlord didn't properly check the apartment before issuing you a check. Before you attempt to file a law suit, I would suggest that you contact the rental protection agency for assistance on how to resolves between you and your former landlord. File a complaint on the site so that someone could contact you regarding this matter.