mhpianalto
New Member
We moved to Colorado in October of 2008. A nice little 3 bed 2 bath with a small walk out patio, a bottom floor apartment. We gave an $875.00 deposit, signed the lease and had 4 days to complete a check-in sheet. She said we didn't have to be very specific, but I knew in the back of my head she would screw us over so I went over everything "with a fine comb." The floors were absolutely discusting, the patio screen door was broken and wouldn't latch and various things throughout the apartment.
Fast forward to March/April of 2010. We gave our 30 days notice saying we would be out by May 1, 2010. She immediately turned into psycho landlord. We sat there and let her walk all over us during that last 30 days, without complaining because we needed our deposit back. It is now June 29, 2010 and we got a letter and a check from her in the mail dated June 26, 2010. The check is in the ammount of $662.00. She claims (as written in letter
Additional Cleaning: (1/2 of $80.00) - $40.00
Carpet Cleaning: (1/2 of $150.00) - $75.00
Had to have re-cleaned / tenants cleaned unit while carpets were still wet/damp.
Repairs: Haul off satelite dish, clean patio, repair large holes near/below TV enclosure area, $75.00; Repair screen: $23.00
Total Deductions: $213.00
Balance due to tenant $662.00
_____________________
*Additional cleaning is NOT correct, my mother in law went through the house and everything was cleaned spotless AND "polished". We have pictures.
*Carpet Cleaning. We had the carpets cleaned after we moved out and cleaned, the only thing we did was 3 days AFTER they were cleaned we went in (with NO shoes on) and polished the linoleum floors. We had things in the kitchen (which had the walk-out doors onto the patio) so NOTHING went on that carpet except our socks and the people she showed the unit to. I also have pictures of the whole house. PLUS on our Check IN sheet I put how nasty the floors were.
*Haul off satelite dish, I was instructed per Dish Network to leave dish behind. I will be contacting them and see if they are aware that she took THEIR equipment.
*Clean patio, we scrubbed this with a scrub mop and heavy soap. It was 10x cleaner than when we moved in.
*Repair large holes near/below TV enclosure area - we had a shelf under the tv and my husband put some putty stuff in the holes (per the guy at Home Depot) and you could not tell there were even tiny holes there. We also have pictures of this.
*Repair screen - as I listed in our check-in sheet that it was broken.
I want to go to the apartment (it is visible from outside) and take pictures because I know she didn't fix the screen! It was broken and listed when we moved in.
This is not right at all! The only thing I am going to have a problem with is that I don't have a copy of the check in list, I was stupid and gave her what we wrote on, but she has the list in her posession.
Do we take this to small claims court? We are in our early twenties, and I know she would try and walk all over us if we go to court unprepared so I would have to get an attorney to help be the "grown up" who knows what they are talking about, legally.
The house was always clean. She insisted on showing the property while we were moving, and she even took someone in there the day after we had the carpets cleaned. If there were stains it was from her showing it. She rented the unit a few weeks after we moved out, and we just NOW get the letter saying what she did. She runs the property management company. She then hires her husband to work for her and be the maintenance man. They hire a guy to come help him when someone moves out. There was NO cleaning that needed to be done, the satelite dish was not supposed to be moved by me, the holes were already patched and the screen was listed on the check in list. I have pictures.
Fast forward to March/April of 2010. We gave our 30 days notice saying we would be out by May 1, 2010. She immediately turned into psycho landlord. We sat there and let her walk all over us during that last 30 days, without complaining because we needed our deposit back. It is now June 29, 2010 and we got a letter and a check from her in the mail dated June 26, 2010. The check is in the ammount of $662.00. She claims (as written in letter
Additional Cleaning: (1/2 of $80.00) - $40.00
Carpet Cleaning: (1/2 of $150.00) - $75.00
Had to have re-cleaned / tenants cleaned unit while carpets were still wet/damp.
Repairs: Haul off satelite dish, clean patio, repair large holes near/below TV enclosure area, $75.00; Repair screen: $23.00
Total Deductions: $213.00
Balance due to tenant $662.00
_____________________
*Additional cleaning is NOT correct, my mother in law went through the house and everything was cleaned spotless AND "polished". We have pictures.
*Carpet Cleaning. We had the carpets cleaned after we moved out and cleaned, the only thing we did was 3 days AFTER they were cleaned we went in (with NO shoes on) and polished the linoleum floors. We had things in the kitchen (which had the walk-out doors onto the patio) so NOTHING went on that carpet except our socks and the people she showed the unit to. I also have pictures of the whole house. PLUS on our Check IN sheet I put how nasty the floors were.
*Haul off satelite dish, I was instructed per Dish Network to leave dish behind. I will be contacting them and see if they are aware that she took THEIR equipment.
*Clean patio, we scrubbed this with a scrub mop and heavy soap. It was 10x cleaner than when we moved in.
*Repair large holes near/below TV enclosure area - we had a shelf under the tv and my husband put some putty stuff in the holes (per the guy at Home Depot) and you could not tell there were even tiny holes there. We also have pictures of this.
*Repair screen - as I listed in our check-in sheet that it was broken.
I want to go to the apartment (it is visible from outside) and take pictures because I know she didn't fix the screen! It was broken and listed when we moved in.
This is not right at all! The only thing I am going to have a problem with is that I don't have a copy of the check in list, I was stupid and gave her what we wrote on, but she has the list in her posession.
Do we take this to small claims court? We are in our early twenties, and I know she would try and walk all over us if we go to court unprepared so I would have to get an attorney to help be the "grown up" who knows what they are talking about, legally.
The house was always clean. She insisted on showing the property while we were moving, and she even took someone in there the day after we had the carpets cleaned. If there were stains it was from her showing it. She rented the unit a few weeks after we moved out, and we just NOW get the letter saying what she did. She runs the property management company. She then hires her husband to work for her and be the maintenance man. They hire a guy to come help him when someone moves out. There was NO cleaning that needed to be done, the satelite dish was not supposed to be moved by me, the holes were already patched and the screen was listed on the check in list. I have pictures.
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