kurojushi
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Virginia
I recently moved out of a townhome which I was renting from an individual who owns the house. After living in it for 2 years, there was some reasonable wear and tear. When we moved in, we gave the landlord a $2300 security deposit plus a $500 pet deposit, both were refundable. While we were moving out, we were unable to actually clean the house and the carpet, so we gave him an additional $500 check to pay for the house cleaning. After moving out, he is charging us for the following:
$320 for house cleaning.
$320 for carpet cleaning.
$50 for flea/deodorizing.
$682 wall/molding repairs and painting.
$1600 hardwood floor restoration.
$250 yard work done by himself and his family.
This leaves $78 to be returned to us.
Here are the facts -
It took over 60 days before the landlord got in contact with us concerning the security deposit, in VA they have 45 days to return the deposit, plus 15 days if they contact us in the mean-time if repairs will take a while.
The house cleaning costs are fine, I'm not contesting those. Specifically the $320+$320+$50.
The hardwood floor had lots of tiny surface scratches on it from our dog walking on it (not digging or scratching at it, just walking). This is the biggest issue. While we were moving out, a contractor came to estimate the repairs and quoted us at $1763. When we asked for a receipt from the landlord, he simply sent us that exact estimate, and when I contacted the contractor, he said he didn't do the job. I strongly believe that the landlord didn't actually do the repairs at all and is charging us based on the estimate. Even then, I believe the damages are reasonable wear and tear, as we did not abuse or neglect the floor, it is a very soft wood and he gave us permission to have the dog in the house, and did not explicitly tell us not to let the dog on the wood.
The yard work was done after we moved out by the landlord and his family. He did not hire anyone to do it, and the $250 is an arbitrary amount that he is charging for his labor costs.
The wall repairs are for the following (quote from the landlord, no invoice was given):
"a) Kitchen walls paint, corner repair (deep scratch) : $150
b) Foyer walls paint to door high - $250
c) 2nd floor all three bedrooms touch up - $250
d) Paint : 3 GL - $82.53"
The first charge of $150 sounds fine, our dog chewed up part of the molding and that was our fault. The other 2 $250 charges are simply to repaint the walls in the foyer and the 3 upstairs bedrooms, which were dirty but there was no actual damage (there were a few scratches in the paint like pencil marks or the mark metal makes when scratched on paint, but all was surface level, no indent into the wall).
I have a few questions, but it mainly comes down to what should I get back, do I have any leverage, and what options do I have here? My plan was to contest the alleged floor repair ($1600), the painting ($500), and the yard work ($250) and be ok with the $690 worth of cleaning and the $232.53 of wall repairs. I also know that Virginia has a 45 day return policy, so does that mean I don't have to contest anything and he owes me the entire amount (I understand if the $500 on move out was in good faith and don't expect that back in any way)? Also, is a landlord allowed to charge for repairs he doesn't actually get done, for all we know he could not repair it ever even if he says he will eventually?
Thanks and hopefully someone can help!
$320 for house cleaning.
$320 for carpet cleaning.
$50 for flea/deodorizing.
$682 wall/molding repairs and painting.
$1600 hardwood floor restoration.
$250 yard work done by himself and his family.
This leaves $78 to be returned to us.
Here are the facts -
It took over 60 days before the landlord got in contact with us concerning the security deposit, in VA they have 45 days to return the deposit, plus 15 days if they contact us in the mean-time if repairs will take a while.
The house cleaning costs are fine, I'm not contesting those. Specifically the $320+$320+$50.
The hardwood floor had lots of tiny surface scratches on it from our dog walking on it (not digging or scratching at it, just walking). This is the biggest issue. While we were moving out, a contractor came to estimate the repairs and quoted us at $1763. When we asked for a receipt from the landlord, he simply sent us that exact estimate, and when I contacted the contractor, he said he didn't do the job. I strongly believe that the landlord didn't actually do the repairs at all and is charging us based on the estimate. Even then, I believe the damages are reasonable wear and tear, as we did not abuse or neglect the floor, it is a very soft wood and he gave us permission to have the dog in the house, and did not explicitly tell us not to let the dog on the wood.
The yard work was done after we moved out by the landlord and his family. He did not hire anyone to do it, and the $250 is an arbitrary amount that he is charging for his labor costs.
The wall repairs are for the following (quote from the landlord, no invoice was given):
"a) Kitchen walls paint, corner repair (deep scratch) : $150
b) Foyer walls paint to door high - $250
c) 2nd floor all three bedrooms touch up - $250
d) Paint : 3 GL - $82.53"
The first charge of $150 sounds fine, our dog chewed up part of the molding and that was our fault. The other 2 $250 charges are simply to repaint the walls in the foyer and the 3 upstairs bedrooms, which were dirty but there was no actual damage (there were a few scratches in the paint like pencil marks or the mark metal makes when scratched on paint, but all was surface level, no indent into the wall).
I have a few questions, but it mainly comes down to what should I get back, do I have any leverage, and what options do I have here? My plan was to contest the alleged floor repair ($1600), the painting ($500), and the yard work ($250) and be ok with the $690 worth of cleaning and the $232.53 of wall repairs. I also know that Virginia has a 45 day return policy, so does that mean I don't have to contest anything and he owes me the entire amount (I understand if the $500 on move out was in good faith and don't expect that back in any way)? Also, is a landlord allowed to charge for repairs he doesn't actually get done, for all we know he could not repair it ever even if he says he will eventually?
Thanks and hopefully someone can help!
