I recently moved out of my apartment after 13 months. Just got a bill from former landlord for $275 for damaged carpet. The actual damage charge is $575 and they are keeping my $300 deposit.
The damage is a 2 ft by 2 ft section of carpet that is discolored because I used Mr. Green on it.
Here is the story:
Gutter was backed up with leaves as was a drain below the gutter outside our bedroom window and when we got a heavy rain, the water flooded into our bedroom about 6 inches, soaking the carpet and causing a couple small patches of mold on the wall. We immediately contacted the office and maintainance only offered a fan to dry out the carpet. It took several days for the carpet to fully dry due to continued rain and the room became smelly with damp carpet. Once it dried out, we bought a steamcleaner. We used Mr Green before steamcleaning to try to clean up the part of the carpet that got flooded so it was sanitized. Didn't realize Mr Green would discolor the carpet. By the time they cleaned the gutters, they filled up again with leaves and fast forward 3 months and - yep - it happened again. This time it didn't flood as much because my hubby put a contraption outside on top of the grate below the bedroom window but it still did come in. We again contacted the office but this time, no one came over at all!!
I have video of the rain coming down outside our window, photos of the water and mold when it flooded as well as the discolored carpet. I also have the maintnance requests. Truth be told, I don't care about getting my deposit back, I just don't want to pay the additional amount. I personally think they could dye the carpet where it was damaged because the rest of the room was still in great shape, as was the rest of the apartment.
While we did cause the damage, it was a result of their inaction. We also found out that this apartment had previously flooded to the point they had to move the tenant out to fix it. They never disclosed this to us so we didn't know about this at the time of move in.
Would appreciate advice on how to handle this dispute.
The damage is a 2 ft by 2 ft section of carpet that is discolored because I used Mr. Green on it.
Here is the story:
Gutter was backed up with leaves as was a drain below the gutter outside our bedroom window and when we got a heavy rain, the water flooded into our bedroom about 6 inches, soaking the carpet and causing a couple small patches of mold on the wall. We immediately contacted the office and maintainance only offered a fan to dry out the carpet. It took several days for the carpet to fully dry due to continued rain and the room became smelly with damp carpet. Once it dried out, we bought a steamcleaner. We used Mr Green before steamcleaning to try to clean up the part of the carpet that got flooded so it was sanitized. Didn't realize Mr Green would discolor the carpet. By the time they cleaned the gutters, they filled up again with leaves and fast forward 3 months and - yep - it happened again. This time it didn't flood as much because my hubby put a contraption outside on top of the grate below the bedroom window but it still did come in. We again contacted the office but this time, no one came over at all!!
I have video of the rain coming down outside our window, photos of the water and mold when it flooded as well as the discolored carpet. I also have the maintnance requests. Truth be told, I don't care about getting my deposit back, I just don't want to pay the additional amount. I personally think they could dye the carpet where it was damaged because the rest of the room was still in great shape, as was the rest of the apartment.
While we did cause the damage, it was a result of their inaction. We also found out that this apartment had previously flooded to the point they had to move the tenant out to fix it. They never disclosed this to us so we didn't know about this at the time of move in.
Would appreciate advice on how to handle this dispute.
