I have an old landlord that did not transfer my security deposit to current landlord. I am in Iowa. He said it was due

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I am sorry to hear that this is occurring.

So you rented an apartment. Paid Landlord A a security deposit. Landlord B took over and A did not transfer the security deposit to B. While there were late payments, there was never a late fee charged and your payments show current and paid in full - is this all correct?

And I am guessing the new landlord will not refund the deposit?

If he has not put the late fees in the statement, my opinion would be, legally, he has waived those. Essentially by providing you the payment history, he has provided a document for you to rely on and you have done so. As well, late fees are situational. Meaning they need to be reflected as they are incurred and if it is not done one month and the rent is accepted, that, in and of itself, essentially waives the fee. There is not really a concept of retroactive late fees.

So if he is showing paid in full, it is paid in full.

I actually believe that the security deposit is the responsibility of the new owners. They took over the lease, so they should have asked for the security deposit to transfer. They likely forgot, or didn't ask at all.

So now they are playing hot potato with the issue.

I would suggest a joint letter to both the old and the new that essentially says to them you don't care who pays it, but they need to sort it out or you will sue them both.

I believe it is, but you would have to be ready to sue to recover if they did not. Bot***** *****ne for you is that it is a balance between the good will with the new landlord of not pursuing recovery or letting the two of them sort it out. Now, with the letter, you could do that as a low cost option - meaning that if they do sort it out, you recover the SD. If they don't you could make the decision to drop the matter.