Gabbi Redding paid $250 in March as a refundable security deposit while applying for an apartment at Timberlake Apartment Homes in Altamonte Springs. The application was not approved, and Redding says the refund did not arrive as expected. “I never received a refund or reimbursement or anything,” she said.
Timberlake advertises its security deposits as “totally refundable,” according to WFTV. Redding’s messages with the property show that the refund remained unresolved for months. In May, property manager Alaina Holliday asked Redding to confirm her forwarding address so the money could be sent, according to correspondence cited by Yahoo News.
In July, assistant manager Jamaal Milledge told Redding that the refund had been escalated to the corporate office, the report said. By mid-September, however, Redding said she still had not received the $250.
Five Months of Chasing a Refund
Redding had spent about five months seeking the money, according to the report, before contacting Action 9, the consumer investigative team. Timberlake Apartment Homes is managed by Orlando-based ZRS Management, the report said.
What Florida rules say about applicant deposits
Florida’s security-deposit statute addresses deposits held under a rental agreement and tells tenants who move out to provide a new address for deposit-related notices, according to Florida Statutes section 83.49. Those move-out procedures may not directly answer how a separate deposit paid by an applicant should be handled when a lease is never approved. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services also cautions that someone who pays money in advance but does not occupy the unit may not be entitled to a refund, depending on the rental agreement. In Redding’s case, the property’s advertised “totally refundable” terms were central to her expectation that the $250 would be returned…