<prompt> Human: After moving out of an apartment Id rented for 9 years the landlord sent me an account statement saying I owed 400 on top of the full amount of my security deposit for unspecified excessive damages. I asked in writing, via certified mail for an explanation of what that meant and never received any response. State law requires specific reasons for keeping security deposits.Around a year later a collection company shows up saying I owe the 400 and the legally allowed interest to them now. Through working with the CA I finally got some paperwork that shows the entire apartment was renovated, along with the other units in the same building, and the landlord basically decided on a random amount of money they wanted me to chip in. There were also handwritten messages on the paperwork trying to suggest I should be grateful they arent billing me for the entire renovation. I then asked the CA to provide proof they had a right to collect on the debt something suggested by people here, to which they havent replied. In fact, they stopped contacted me completely after I made the request, which feels very unsettling and makes me worry Im about to get a bad surprise. I havent heard from them in three weeks, where before we were sending letters back and forth on a weekly basis. I was fully prepared to send a check as soon as theyd provided the proof, since a few hundred bucks isnt worth risking the damage to my credit, and going to a lawyer would probably end up costing quite a bit more.On a side note, the CA was pretty friendly to deal with. Any information I requested from either them or the landlord would show up within a week, and aside from the constant form letter pay now to retain Select Payer status! fluff they were never rude or pushy. This is my first time dealing with collections of any sort, am I missing a step? Is there something I should be proactively doing instead of waiting to see if the CA replies to me? Any advice is appreciated, thanks PF!Wow, thanks for the fast replies! Sorry for not putting this in rlegaladvice in the first place, Ill hide this and go ask over there. Unless deleting it is more appropriate?  <response>: Your post actually belongs in rlegaladvice. Youll have to provide your state for an accurate answer. 