I recently moved out of my house (rented two apartments totally one full house). Both apartments of the house received rent and last month when i moved in. I moved out of the top floor apartment, cleaned it before the new tenants moved in, the landlord mentioned no large deposit issues. New tenants moved into the lower apartment before i really had a chance to get to much cleaning done, and found they did much of the cleaning. Neither apartment was painted when i moved, nor were in any real good condition. As such i did not paint either of them.
My landlord has yet to return my phone calls, and its coming up on well over half a month since i left the apartments, on top of that from talking to the new tenants upstairs, he informed them(not me) that he wasn't returning any of my deposit.
I was curious to what steps i need to take to ensure i receive my deposit back? And if there is a time limit to when he is required to contact me about my deposit after leaving the apartment?