jajajoshua
New Member
My girlfriend and her former roommate recently moved out of her Philadelphia apartment at the end of April (lease ended April 30th). In the early winter, their heat went out for about three days - the landlord had his men inspect and determined the cause was the "water catch" (different than the lint trap which they had always taken care of) on the dryer had been been filled with water, the lint had escaped into the heating and had destroyed the heater. The landlord's repairmen said that, while the water catch should have been filled, it would have been best for the dryer to be vented outside - which it was not. My girlfriend and her roommate never heard anything else regarding the repair or installation of a new heater.
They moved out of this apartment at the end of April, received a checklist of what had to been done to the apartment ("here's what needs to be done to the apartment in order to get your security deposit back"), cleaned and scrubbed until the place sparkled. A week after move-out, landlord emailed them, said the apartment looked great, however they need to discuss the payment of the new heating unit (again: after they had fulfilled landlord's check-out list) before they received their deposit back ($1100). This is 5-6 months after the issue had occurred and since they had heard nothing about payment at the time, they assumed there would be no further discussion. Landlord said the heater was about 7 years old, he estimated it had another 15 years left, and he wanted to know what they felt was fair for payment of it on their end. My girlfriend responded with an aggressive letter stating that they didn't feel they owed for the heater. He responded in turn saying he would be glad to play hardball, he's been to court, and he'll be glad to fight them for it.
In the past week, my girlfriend and her former roommate have tried to weigh their options. Last Monday they asked for a copy of their signed lease from the landlord. At first he text them and said they would need to come to one of his offices to pick it up as his scanner was broken. A few hours later he said he was having trouble finding lease because his office is a mess. He responded an hour or two later asking what they need the signed lease for, anything that's in there he can tell them, why should he give it to them since he's no longer their landlord and then said either they pay $500 "to walk" or he's going big time and will sue for $2000, the cost of the heater. He said lease states if they lose, they're responsible for his legal fees, and "his attorney isn't cheap." Said in these kinds of situations, court usually splits the case, but they must also consider attorney fees, cost of being out of work, he even used "cost of parking" as a reason to not go to court. But he also said he's been three or four times, usually over deposits.
So none of us know what to do at this point. Was the furnace a repair or was it tenant-caused damage? They had never been told about the water/lint situation. They actually offered him $250 just to get the whole thing done with but he responded again, either pay him the $500 or he sues them for $2000. At this point we are more than likely going to file in Philadelphia small-claims but would like any other advice that can be provided.
They moved out of this apartment at the end of April, received a checklist of what had to been done to the apartment ("here's what needs to be done to the apartment in order to get your security deposit back"), cleaned and scrubbed until the place sparkled. A week after move-out, landlord emailed them, said the apartment looked great, however they need to discuss the payment of the new heating unit (again: after they had fulfilled landlord's check-out list) before they received their deposit back ($1100). This is 5-6 months after the issue had occurred and since they had heard nothing about payment at the time, they assumed there would be no further discussion. Landlord said the heater was about 7 years old, he estimated it had another 15 years left, and he wanted to know what they felt was fair for payment of it on their end. My girlfriend responded with an aggressive letter stating that they didn't feel they owed for the heater. He responded in turn saying he would be glad to play hardball, he's been to court, and he'll be glad to fight them for it.
In the past week, my girlfriend and her former roommate have tried to weigh their options. Last Monday they asked for a copy of their signed lease from the landlord. At first he text them and said they would need to come to one of his offices to pick it up as his scanner was broken. A few hours later he said he was having trouble finding lease because his office is a mess. He responded an hour or two later asking what they need the signed lease for, anything that's in there he can tell them, why should he give it to them since he's no longer their landlord and then said either they pay $500 "to walk" or he's going big time and will sue for $2000, the cost of the heater. He said lease states if they lose, they're responsible for his legal fees, and "his attorney isn't cheap." Said in these kinds of situations, court usually splits the case, but they must also consider attorney fees, cost of being out of work, he even used "cost of parking" as a reason to not go to court. But he also said he's been three or four times, usually over deposits.
So none of us know what to do at this point. Was the furnace a repair or was it tenant-caused damage? They had never been told about the water/lint situation. They actually offered him $250 just to get the whole thing done with but he responded again, either pay him the $500 or he sues them for $2000. At this point we are more than likely going to file in Philadelphia small-claims but would like any other advice that can be provided.
