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Where I live, nobody cleans when they move out. The landlord has a history of not giving deposits back, so no one cares. Some tenants move out without paying the last month's rent due to this.
On top of the cleaning fee, the apartment manager is wrongly charging us for 2 other things. Her refusal to dismiss those fees reinforces my opinion that she is being unreasonable. One charge is because she says we were not charged the correct amount of rent when we added 2 weeks onto our original 3-month lease (she admits it was their error), so even though we were given a final bill and paid it in full, she now claims we owe additional rent. Also she claims we did not leave the DVD player's cord (it was a furnished apartment), so she charged us for that. I'm quite sure we did not remove the cord from the DVD and take it! That's ridiculous. Since she didn't do a walk-through with us when we moved out, or a check-off list of things that were furnished, it is her word against ours.
Unless it was in writing, she loses this one.
If you ever used the DVD player or hooked /unhooked anything from the TV, my guess is you have the cord. She probably can't prove it .
When I met with her a few weeks before move-out to specifically ask what I needed to do at move-out time, she gave me no move-out materials, no check-list, no verbal instructions other than "bring your keys to the office." I think she knew that without specific move-out instructions or a walk-through (which she now says I could have requested, but I had no idea then that it was an option), most people (especially those of us unfamiliar with renting) will forget something that she deems important. How hard would it have been for her to tell me what was expected in terms of cleaning when I met with her? I feel like it's just a scam to come up with a few additional charges when tenants move out.
Sorry....although not true in actuality, clean is supposed to mean the same thing to everybody.
It could be just away to get a few extra bucks but for a LL that actually does go in (or hire out) the cleaning, it's justified.
Besides, aren't apartments professionally cleaned after one tenant moves out before the next one moves in? Regardless of how clean an apartment looks I always assumed it would be deep-cleaned/disinfected, just as a hotel would be between guests.
Absolutely not, which is the point of requiring clean....especially important when you have a new tenant waiting to move in , both parties trying to jockey a 'first of the month rental date
This isn't a matter of money, as this apartment was paid for by the company who moved us here. It is completely about principle.
If the cleaning fee charged you doesn't get used for cleaning, you could dispute it but, a matter of principle or not, I doubt you want to go there.
Dirt is not "normal wear and tear". Clean means, there is NO DIRT anywhere. I don't know about everyone but we don't just automatically have a property professionally cleaned in between tenants. Who do you think would be paying for this? Tenants are expected to leave the place clean.
Next time you rent, be sure that a walkthrough is done at move in and move out and that you clearly understand what is expected of you. Photos at move in are a good idea too.
Yes and it was in Louisiana as well but it was in the mid 1980s. Our apartment was in Metairie to be exact. Anyway, we moved out of state and the landlord kept ALL of my deposit. I think it was about $400. However, I was not so nice as you when I wrote back to him. I simply told him that I knew that he knew I was one of the cleanest and best tenants he had ever had in that apartment and he was a "dirty dog" (although I used a little more coarse language in my letter) if he kept my deposit. He mailed half of it back to me.
Granted where one was once able to shame someone into doing what is morally right, now takes a busload of New York lawyers.
At any rate, good luck in getting that deposit back.
Some tenants move out without paying the last month's rent due to this.
They do that here in Texas as well. My new contracts however contain the following paragraphs:
================================================== ============================== LANDLORD’S LIEN: This serves as notice that Section 54.041 of the Texas Property Code provides landlords a lien on all non-exempt tenant property in a rental unit for unpaid rent should they decide to do so. The RENTER is herein advised that OWNER may legally seize, hold and charge subsequent packing fees, removal costs and/or storage fees for RENTER's seized property in order to secure payment of delinquent rent.
RENTER'S LIABILITY FOR WITHHOLDING LAST MONTH 'S RENT: Sec. 92.108 of the Texas Property Code does not allow RENTER to withhold payment of any portion of the last month's rent on the grounds that the deposit is security for unpaid rent. “A tenant who violates this section is presumed to have acted in bad faith. A tenant who in bad faith violates this section is liable to the landlord for an amount equal to THREE times the rent wrongfully withheld and the landlord 's reasonable attorney's fees in a suit to recover the rent.” In signing this document, the RENTER acknowledges that they have been adequately warned of this liability in compliance with Texas Property Codes.
Hey by the way, you might be owed interest on your security deposit! check your city/state laws about this.,
Yeah. Interests rates are running about 1/10th of a percent right now. Would hate to lose all that. (Very few states require interest to be paid on deposits, but you can look it up)
I'd rather rent a place where the landlord doesn't make it look like new in-between rentals. Those are the places that charge you through the nose when you move out. One complex I rented in supposedly took a tenant for $1300 when they moved out after a six month lease while they were remodeling their house. Yikes!
I often have the new tenant moving in do a to do list, and use that same list as a check list when they move out..
If you call somone in to clean, even if it is one cobweb, their is a minium charge to come in to clean...no one works for free, and gas is not free...bet it was more than one cobweb that they found....
It is never clean enough for new tenants, and the old tenant never sees the dirt they leave behind...when they turn the lights out...
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