I recently moved from an apartment complex. Well past 30 days after my move-out notice we received no contact from the property management of any sort. They had been provided phone, email and forwarding address.

If they're going to keep any part of the deposit for any reason, my local law (Iowa) requires them to send written notice of explanation within 30 days, or they must forfeit withholding any of the deposit. (It does not mean they can't bill me afterwards). See: https://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=562A#562A.12

I sent them a letter by certified mail, to central management of the entire company, requesting the specific amount to be returned, along with all dates (move in, deposit given, move out, etc), and requested a response within 5 business days. It's been several weeks since they received the letter, but they have still failed to contact me at all.

I left them a voicemail requesting them to contact me by a certain reasonable time, and that I'll be seeking legal counsel and proceeding to court if that doesn't happen.

What would normally come next in this process, when the law is clear I'm owed my deposit?

Do deposit disputes just go to small claims court, or do I need to do something else first to establish a case?

What documentation do you typically need to support a deposit dispute?

I recently moved from an apartment complex. Well past 30 days after my move-out we have received no contact from the property management of any sort. They had been provided phone, email and forwarding address.

If they're going to keep any part of the deposit for any reason, my local law (Iowa) requires them to send written notice of explanation within 30 days, or they must forfeit withholding any of the deposit. (It does not mean they can't bill me afterwards). See: https://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=562A#562A.12

I sent them a letter by certified mail, to central management of the entire company, requesting the specific amount to be returned, along with all dates (move in, deposit given, move out, etc), and requested a response within 5 business days. It's been several weeks since they received the letter, but they have still failed to contact me at all.

I left them a voicemail requesting them to contact me by a certain reasonable time, and that I'll be seeking legal counsel and proceeding to court if that doesn't happen.

What would normally come next in this process, when the law is clear I'm owed my deposit?

Do deposit disputes just go to small claims court, or do I need to do something else first to establish a case?

What documentation do you typically need to support a deposit dispute?

I recently moved from an apartment complex that had very new and inexperienced management.

  Well past 30 days after my move-out notice we received no contact from the property management of any sort. They had been provided phone, email and forwarding address.

If they're going to keep any part of the deposit for any reason, my local law (Iowa) requires them to send written notice of explanation within 30 days, or they must forfeit withholding any of the deposit. (It does not mean they can't bill me afterwards). See: https://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=562A#562A.12

I sent them a letter by certified mail, to central management of the entire company, requesting the specific amount to be returned, along with all dates (move in, deposit given, move out, etc), and requested a response within 5 business days. It's been several weeks since they received the letter, but have still failed to contact me at all.

I left them a voicemail requesting them to contact me immediately, and that I'll be seeking legal counsel and proceeding to court if that doesn't happen. I also mentioned that I know they've kept other previous tenant's deposits without giving written notice, and that local law stipulates "bad faith retention" of my deposit could potentially result in punitive damages that are a high proportion of the actual deposit.

Now, I will be seeking legal counsel as soon as possible, but it's a busy week ahead for me.

I'm wondering what would normally come next in this process? Do deposit disputes just go to small claims court, or should I be doing something else first? When I seek advice from legal counsel (I have easy access to free counsel with experience in landlord/tenant disputes), what documentation should I bring?

While it may be a separate issue, we had other problems with this previous apartment management. The premises were not well maintained, including a failure to remove ice and snow in the winter, and the level we lived on was constantly flooding. We'd requested in writing and in person for all of these issues to be fixed, but they never were. It was adversely affecting my family's health, so we were forced to find somewhere else to live.

I feel like the failure to contact us is partially retaliatory for the issues I brought up to management, and the frustration I expressed with them for their failure to uphold their end of the lease and their legal duties.

For approximately half of our lease there was no local management, and even our interim management from another site was no-longer-with-company before our local management was replaced. I'm not sure whether or not information regarding their failure to "maintain fit premises" would be relevant to a deposit dispute case. (Would it help show that they've been consistently neglectful of their duties as landlords?)

I recently moved from an apartment complex. Well past 30 days after my move-out notice we received no contact from the property management of any sort. They had been provided phone, email and forwarding address.

If they're going to keep any part of the deposit for any reason, my local law (Iowa) requires them to send written notice of explanation within 30 days, or they must forfeit withholding any of the deposit. (It does not mean they can't bill me afterwards). See: https://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?Category=billinfo&Service=IowaCode&input=562A#562A.12

I sent them a letter by certified mail, to central management of the entire company, requesting the specific amount to be returned, along with all dates (move in, deposit given, move out, etc), and requested a response within 5 business days. It's been several weeks since they received the letter, but they have still failed to contact me at all.

I left them a voicemail requesting them to contact me by a certain reasonable time, and that I'll be seeking legal counsel and proceeding to court if that doesn't happen.

What would normally come next in this process, when the law is clear I'm owed my deposit? 

Do deposit disputes just go to small claims court, or do I need to do something else first to establish a case?

What documentation do you typically need to support a deposit dispute?