waterdummy
New Member
Hi everyone,
Sorry if this is redundant but I have a question on our security deposit, we paid $10 extra monthly for our cats plus a $595 security deposit. We stayed there for just under 2 years (23 months exactly) and apparently left the house in very poor condition (?). After 31 days we contacted our former landlord, as we had not heard from him, after leaving our address with him twice, and he stated that he had 'accidentally' deleted our phone number and somehow lost our address (twice).
Anyway, he stated that we had incurred $200 in cleaning fees but did not provide a list of items that he had cleaned or any other associated cleaning fees. He basically stated that we had not vacuumed or wiped anything down, which is in direct contrast to what we actually did/cleaned (taking pictures for proof.) I'll provide the text below to show you what he stated:
Quote:
The apartment was not left anywhere near the condition that it was when you moved in.
The kitchen was not cleaned. There were many marks/scratches on the ceramic tiles due to moving the stove and refrigerator out. A tar removal cleaner had to be used prior to scrubbing the floor. There was cat hair all over the kitchen, the surface of the kitchen cabinets were coated with cat hair, the ceiling fan was covered with cat hair, as well as the lower walls, door and baseboard. (As you know I'm allergic to cats.)
The living room carpet was not vacuumed. Cat hair and debris were all over the livingroom floor, baseboards and lower walls.
The carpeting on the steps was not brushed or vacuumed and was full of cat hair.
The upstairs bedroom carpet also was not vacuumed and had a lot of cat hair.
Paint was scratched on the stair well and living room area, from moving furniture.
Something was painted with black paint on the garage concrete floor, and there is a rectangular black overspray on the concrete floor.
/end quote
It seems as though he was using the cat allergies as an excuse to keep a 1/3rd of our deposit.
Also, we have been going back and fourth with our Garbage company for the past 2 years as they have sent us one bill, yes, one bill over a 2 year period and it included the previous tenants amount on there. Needless to say, they have promised to call us back whenever we call in to talk to them and we've never heard anything back from them, and this has been through multiple attempts over a 2 year period. Our landlord is saying that he is going to take out the amount due to them to pay for our past due.
Apparently, we also took one of the washer/dryer hookups with us and he charged us $20 for, what normally should be, a $4.00 hookup.
I'm sure there are a bunch of people here who have experience with this kind of thing, do I have a case in small-claims or should I contact someone else about this? Thanks
Update: I received an e-mail from him today, after asking for an itemized deduction list for the security deposit (which again, was never sent to us) and the only thing that he said is that he took out two trash bags. It seems a bit ridiculous that he spent $200 on two trash bags and labor, at least from my point of view but I may be biased.
Sorry if this is redundant but I have a question on our security deposit, we paid $10 extra monthly for our cats plus a $595 security deposit. We stayed there for just under 2 years (23 months exactly) and apparently left the house in very poor condition (?). After 31 days we contacted our former landlord, as we had not heard from him, after leaving our address with him twice, and he stated that he had 'accidentally' deleted our phone number and somehow lost our address (twice).
Anyway, he stated that we had incurred $200 in cleaning fees but did not provide a list of items that he had cleaned or any other associated cleaning fees. He basically stated that we had not vacuumed or wiped anything down, which is in direct contrast to what we actually did/cleaned (taking pictures for proof.) I'll provide the text below to show you what he stated:
Quote:
The apartment was not left anywhere near the condition that it was when you moved in.
The kitchen was not cleaned. There were many marks/scratches on the ceramic tiles due to moving the stove and refrigerator out. A tar removal cleaner had to be used prior to scrubbing the floor. There was cat hair all over the kitchen, the surface of the kitchen cabinets were coated with cat hair, the ceiling fan was covered with cat hair, as well as the lower walls, door and baseboard. (As you know I'm allergic to cats.)
The living room carpet was not vacuumed. Cat hair and debris were all over the livingroom floor, baseboards and lower walls.
The carpeting on the steps was not brushed or vacuumed and was full of cat hair.
The upstairs bedroom carpet also was not vacuumed and had a lot of cat hair.
Paint was scratched on the stair well and living room area, from moving furniture.
Something was painted with black paint on the garage concrete floor, and there is a rectangular black overspray on the concrete floor.
/end quote
It seems as though he was using the cat allergies as an excuse to keep a 1/3rd of our deposit.
Also, we have been going back and fourth with our Garbage company for the past 2 years as they have sent us one bill, yes, one bill over a 2 year period and it included the previous tenants amount on there. Needless to say, they have promised to call us back whenever we call in to talk to them and we've never heard anything back from them, and this has been through multiple attempts over a 2 year period. Our landlord is saying that he is going to take out the amount due to them to pay for our past due.
Apparently, we also took one of the washer/dryer hookups with us and he charged us $20 for, what normally should be, a $4.00 hookup.
I'm sure there are a bunch of people here who have experience with this kind of thing, do I have a case in small-claims or should I contact someone else about this? Thanks
Update: I received an e-mail from him today, after asking for an itemized deduction list for the security deposit (which again, was never sent to us) and the only thing that he said is that he took out two trash bags. It seems a bit ridiculous that he spent $200 on two trash bags and labor, at least from my point of view but I may be biased.
