Kari Peterson, Kari Murphy
Kari Peterson, Kari Murphy Does not refund security deposit

My wife and I rented Ms. Peterson's bi-level duplex at 1300B 5th Ave NW in Austin as our home for five years.in that five years, we were never behind on the rent, and rarely asked her for anything. We even took care of the lawn and greatly improved the lawn at our own expense, despite lawncare being the owner's responsibility. Ms. Peterson never met her responsibility of snow removal in the entire five years we lived there.

When we moved in on 30 July the property was being managed by her mother, Judy Taylor, as Ms. Peterson (then Mrs. Murphy) was living in California. Mrs. Taylor even pointed out that the flooring on the lower level was in poor condition, but her daughter had not approved new flooring at that time. Soon after moving in, we noticed that the water heater was leaking and contacted Mrs. Taylor about the situation and requested that the water heater be replaced before it quit working. The water heater finally quit on a Thursday night, about a month after notifying Mrs. Taylor. We were without hot water for over two days before Mrs. Taylor had the hot water heater replaced.

There was an ancient clothes dryer and tired washer in the basement when we moved in. When we asked about repair and maintenance on the washer and dryer, we were informed that they were not an amenity of the apartment and had been simply left by a prior tenant. We had the old inoperable dryer removed and replaced, and the tired washer was eventually replaced at our own expense when it finally broke down. Since we were notified that the washer and dryer were not an amenity of the apartment (not the landlady's responsibility), we took our washer and dryer with us when we moved to Colorado in August.

The property also suffered from poor electrics that caused standard light bulbs to blow after a week in a few circuits. We changed most of the lights in the unit to compact fluorescent bulbs by the time we left. All of our electronic equipment (stereos, computers, television, DVD/VCR, etc.) were on surge protectors.

We improved the property by installing both a dishwasher and water softener at our own expense, and with the knowledge and approval of Ms. Peterson. We treated her property as if we owned it and not as if we were renters.

I moved to Colorado ahead of my wife on 28 July. Before leaving, I delivered our August rent checque to her home at 711 NW 12th Ave. The same manner I had for over three years. I included a polite note with our new Colorado address thanking her for allowing us the opportunity to have rented from her the last five years and notifying her that we were vacating the property no later than 1 Septmber 2007 for our move to Colorado.

My wife had remained back in Minnesota to finish packing while I prepared our new home in Colorado for her arrival. After being in Colorado for about one week, I received a phone call from my wife. Ms. Peterson had contacted my wife asking about the August rent. Ms. Peterson claimed that she had not received the August rent checque. My wife wanted the checque number I had written so we could stop payment at our bancque in Minnesota. Ms. Peterson was very upset when we told her that we would be stopping payment on the old checque and would give her a new checque after payment was stopped. It seems obvious to me now that she tried to scam us out of an extra month's rent.

The new checque was given personally by my wife to Ms. Peterson and our new address in Colorado was given to Ms. Peterson again at that time for a refund on our security deposit of $500 given in July.

We waited patiently for our $500 security deposit refund to arrive postmarked 15 September. I sent a polite letter on 22 September with our Colorado address, phone numbers, and e-mail requesting our security deposit back; giving her the benefit of the doubt that she had misplaced our Colorado address once again. When we had still received no response to our 22 September letter, we sent another letter 4 October certified mail once again (a little more sternly) requesting our $500 security deposit refund. The USPS attempted delivery on 9 October. To date, 22 October our certified letter remains at the Austin MN post office. Ms. Peterson, in essence, has refused delivery of our letter and refuses to even contact us about the security deposit.

My wife arrived at our home in Colorado on 13 August. According to friends and family still in the Austin MN area, Ms. Peterson began renovations soon after we moved out. Weeks before Labour Day weekend. It is safe to say that we have been waiting for two months for our security deposit to be refunded. Our rental agreement required Ms. Peterson to return our security deposit within two weeks of vacating the property. She obviously knows she is in the wrong (evidenced by ignoring our letters), but hopes that she can get away with ripping us off since we live over 15 hours away.

Company: Kari Peterson, Kari Murphy
Country: USA
State: Minnesota
City: Austin
Address: 711 NW 12th Ave
Phone: 5072191242

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