hello,
I have a unique situation.
I moved out of my apartment in February and was told that I would get my deposit money back within 30 days. The deposit money was $250 minus the carpet cleaning $73 as agreed. However, today I got a letter from the property management company saying that I owe them $223.70 for stuff like full paint and what not.
Although I received the letter today, it is dated as 31-Mar-08 ( but the postage was done April 30th). At the bottom it says "Please remit payment within 30 days or your account will be forwarded to a collection agency. They set this trap for me by have a month old date in the letter.
 What are my options: should I pay that $223 fearing the collection charges although I know it has been unfair with me. Or should I file for a law suit? is it even worth it. At this point its more than money, its that bad feeling of being a second class citizen of this country and living with unjust. What would you suggest?

Brother, Take your landlord to small claim court. I am very positive that you will end up getting your deopsit back.

Hi,

I don't know which state you  are in and how long you stayed in that apartment but general rule is unless you really mess up or did the negligance, you property manager cannot charge you for normal wears and tears like for carpet, wall and blinds etc.

Since we never look first at the agreement and never bother to look renters right, this problem always arises when we have to move out. I am sure even if you ask for bill (for cleaning), they can provide. If you had really messed up with the carpet and wall then I'd say you better pay.

If not then better try to challange them.

Lastly, while moving out of the room next time, make an appoitment wiht your property manager to come and have initial inspection. Before they come clean the room very nicely and let them know you are ready to clean more if something is not really in condition that you were handed over to.

That usually saves your deposit. Hope this helps you !

Sampada

 

 

 

garib ji and sampada ji
Thanks a lot for your responses.
The apartment was in no lesser condition as it was initially when I moved in. I made sure everything was nice and clean. I even spoke with the lady from the property management to make sure things were good and she said its all good and my deposit check was in the mail. But today when I opened the mail, it was a bill not the check. I am thinking of filing for small claim at the local courthouse. Are there any negative impacts of doing so?.. I understand we should fight for justice but is it gonna be worth it or am I better off just paying $223 and calling it a bad luck :(

please suggest

there is no bad luck, just bad choices.

try to negotiate with agy

if not, small claims court (you MUST have solid grounds, tho)

 

but still be mentally (and financially) prepared to call it in. Sometimes, it is just not worth the hassle.

_x

 

Hello Mitra, as you mentioned earlier "At this point its more than money". I would say go for it. worse comes worse, you will end up paying couple of hundred dollars .

Get together all the documents and go through the clauses. If it seems your right has been violated then have a lawyer write a letter to the apt mgmt with reference to those documents. A recommended lawyer by someone you know might charge 50-100 bucks. Since the disputed amount is so little the apt mgmt might accept your original offer.

Claims court seems like a good idea too but I have no experience of its intricacies. At the same time I see you indicate that it is not just about money but about tenant rights too. Way to go!

Good luck

-hydE

Most apartment owners/management companies use this standard "trick" to keep the deposit. Sampada is right about, always make sure that you walk in with the apartment manger for the final inspection and have them write down in prints if evertyhing is ok (or not ok). Later if you have to prove something in the court of law or convince someone, the written statement is more useful than "I even spoke with the lady from the property management to make sure things were good and she said its all good and my deposit check was in the mail."

Depending upon which state you are in, as a renter you have a certain rights (unfortunately most states favor landlords than tenants.) You can file a complaint to Renters Association or Apartment association or some sort, most of the state have a government agency who look after these things. But like Sampada said, you must have some kind of strong proof/point to convince them why you are right  and they are wrong. But I would suggest you to go to Property manager and talk to them nicely and try to negotiate with them. Tell them they can keep the deposit and forget about the extra $223.70. But if you are just like me, a righteous, I would go to small claim court and try to fight with this. Normally small claim court does not cost much for plaintiffs, but it could be costly for the defendants. But before doing so write them a letter of your intentions, most of the landlords try to stay away from lawsuits. Hope this will help.

Thanks a lot guys.. Really appreciate your input.

I am planning to go talk to them today. The lady I need to talk to happens to be either busy or away everytime I called. I might just have to go there and meet her in person. Hopefully get the issue sorted out. If not small claims court i guess, i looked into it and have all the docs ready to go.

Best of luck.. and please update the output...

 

 

Nepali

If your land lady doesn't take you call, don't forget to leave her voice message everytime you call and if she doesn't receive message. If you are planing to send letter do it through post office.

It serves as proof if she says she didn't get your call or receive you letter. If you really think you are right and have been taken advantage of you can contact renters right association in you local area. I guess they can help you.

Good luck. I'll pray for you so that you don't have to pay money without mistake.

Please do write about your recent updates

Sampada

Hey Gazabko manchay, One other thing u can do is , file the report of discrimations with your local office. ( remeber, when u enter to any apt office, they usually hang a piece of information, saying that there will be no discrimation...blah blah...... U will also find 1800 number at the piece of information to call.) This is not surprsie. this happens a lot . So as samapada said always make sure that u bring those mgmt team to inspect. Alswys move to apt that doen't have deposit, becoz in most casse they never come back.

Make sure when u call ur local office, advise them or request them to call ur mgmt office to let them knwo that hey receive discrimation complain. This way these peoeple gets scrared; at least in my case.

But if u think u can handle siutaion,. u have time, and little money, man go for this . I think u will win

Best of Luck

Guys,

Rite now I have drafted a letter to the land lord requesting for all the invoices for the charges they have put. For example, they calim to have done Full paint, and bunch of other cleanings. Once I receive all the invoices ( i highly doubt they can even prove that they spend all that money cleaning and stuff), then I am planning to send them another letter stating my intent to file for small claims at the local district court.

Its crazy and funny at the same time.. I feel like calling Joe Pesci, to come for my resuce from that movie "my cousin vinnie" ...

now i'm more charged up about it... at the end i guess i'll learn a few things abt the legal system of this place ( and if things were to go south, lose a couple of hundred bucks) ....

k k aailagcha life ma yaar.. tsk tsk...

Thanks a lot for ur input...

I had to go thru' the same thing. when i moved out of my apt i cleaned the apt real nice. e'thing was perfect. when i told them to come and inspect the apt they said they are busy and will do dat later that week, and told me that they will be sending my deposit($300) via mail within couple of weeks. even after 2-3 months i didn't hear any thing from them and i decided to give them a call. i was shocked when the lady told me that i owed them 3-4 hundred bucks for the carpet replacement as it was smelling bad. when we moved out everything was all good. when i tried to explain that to the lady....she started bitching on me. i could not tolerate her attitude and the injustice. i went to the court and filed a case against them and i have a hearing later this month. now its no more abt the money its abt the justice.

Laure_boi,

If you ahve proof that they didn't inform you for about 2-4 mth and they only talked to you after you made the call, you are in good shape.

Landlord must inform or return the deposit wihtin 30 days of vacency of your apartment. If they took some away from your deposit then they have to send the bill and you have the right to request for that.

But, please be prepared before going to court regarding rental laws of your areas especially regarding those issues that you are trying to talk about. If your landlord is white..  and judge is white it's hard.. really we say there will be justice but I have herd such many cases where there was discrimination, since we are immigrant, less knowledge and welath to back up its hard.

Anyways good luck !

Sampada

hey sampada thank you so much for the info.

i got a letter from them after 3 months but when i opened it they had a date which is exactly 30 days from when we left the apt. dats just so wrong.

sampada, abt the judge hope he/she is brown. (winks)

laure_boi...

mine is the same case bro.... the date in the letter says march 31st and i moved out end of Feb... but it wasn't posted until april 30th... see if u still have the envelope.. they value the postmarked date on the enevelop.. however i've also heard that they could use the fact that u moved to a new location as " oh he did not leave a forwarding address, thats why there was a delay in the mail delivery although the letter was written within 30days".. just watch out for the loop holes i guess.. and like u said, hope he is Judge. ChandraSekhar Gupta.

Latest Update:

I spoke with a secretary at a local law firm. She wasn't surprised and told me that they have dealt with this landlord before :). I was able to convince her to get me in for a half hour appointment with an attorney. I was able to use the local bar association's waiver to reduce the price to $25 for half hour. She told me that the attorney would write a letter to the landlord and call them in that half hour appointment. If it takes care of it then I'm good. If not I'm gonna be doing the small claims court. At least I have something to scare them now when I talk to them by saying " btw, i've got an appointment with my attorney on friday". lets see how it goes.