前不久上來問過一個房東扣deposit的問題，在這裏：
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/tzlc/375178.html
基本就是我們去年6月底退的租，房東11月返的deposit，扣了400多塊的修理費，版上同學的意見很統一的都是這些repair是normal wear,不應該扣。我後來給房東寫了個email說這些根據Texas law應該是normal wear and tear。然後他們長篇大論的回了一封email，一項項說為什麽不是normal,然後根據lease "This is not normal wear and tear. This was caused by negligence of the tenant and not by the Landlord." 這些細節就先不貼在這裏了。
然後evil的來了，他們說現在要收最後一個月(11年6月)的late fee，一共$795。我LG在那裏從05年到11年住了差不多6年，我是11年4月搬進去的，我們6月底搬走。房租平時都是銀行自動轉賬的，最後一個月大概因為我LG改付房租的 payment period弄錯了，遲了半個月。房東附上的email記錄顯示我LG 6月15號 email裏說銀行轉賬了。另外他們還說2008年有遲過waive掉了。我LG不記得什麽原因了，他印象中都是設好自動轉賬的，其他時候應該沒有遲過了。
我真是氣的要命。請教大家我現在應該如何回複。我讓我LG把lease找出來看，發現他其實就簽了2005到2007兩年的lease，貌似後麵都是口頭延的，沒有重新簽過lease。這樣有什麽影響嗎？
如果和房東打官司的話，如果找律師，需要我們自己出庭嗎？還是律師出庭就可以？或者跟法庭要求書麵來回答辯行嗎？因為我們現在不在美國。
謝謝大家！
”I believe I did make an error in calculating the refund of your deposit as I did not take into consideration the late fees due to the late payment of the June 2011 rental payment which was your last month of rental. The prior instance that this occurred was in October 2008. At that time the September 2008 and October 2008 payments were not received until October 09 2008. I waived the late fees which would have resulted in 38 days for the late September 2008 payment and 8 days for the late October 2008 payment as a gesture of 'good will'.
As stated in attached email from you dated June 15,2011, the rent did not arrive in my account until 20 June. This resulted in a 19 day late payment which calculates to be: 1 day * $75.00 = $75.00 + 18 days * $40.00 = $720.00 for a total of $795.00. Please deposit this amount into my account within 10 business days. The late fee was not waived and is currently an outstanding debt. This should have been deducted from your deposit.
Lease Section 5 "Rent" A states: "... Tenant will pay the monthly rent on or before the first day of each month during this Lease. Weekends and holidays do not delay or excuse Tenant's obligation to timely pay rent."
Lease Section 6 "Late Charges" states: "If Tenant fails to timely pay any month's rent, Tenant will pay landlord an initial late charge of $75.00, plus additional late charges of $40.00 per day thereafter until rent is paid in full. If Landlord receives the monthly rent by the 5th day of the month, Landlord will waive the late charges for that month. Any waiver of late charges under this paragraph will not affect or diminish any other right or remedy Landlord may exercise for Tenant's failure to timey pay rent."
Lease Section 8 "Application of Funds" states: "Landlord will apply all funds received from Tenant first to any non-rent obligations of Tenant including late charges, returned check charges, charge-backs for repairs, brokerage fees, and periodic utilities, then to rent."
According to the above Sections of your lease, the late fee is due and should have been taken into consideration. This would have resulted in no refund. Please send payment within 10 business days of your receipt of this email or this will be considered delinquent and subject to report to consumer reporting agencies.
