Landlord suing me - Owe a lot of money for repairs but I attempted to pay in full...
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I am a student at Syracuse University and I live in a apartment complex near campus. I accidentally broke a window and agreed to pay for the cost. It was a small window double paned. The apartment manager charged me 500 dollars! Before paying for the cost I asked for the receipt. The company they bought it from charged only $396.20 to make and install. The manager tacked on another $103.80 for Dave's time who is the maintenance guy. But isn't that their job? Isn't in their contract to do repairs? I talked to Dave and he wasn't even sure where the cost was coming from. The manager didn't even show me the rate that she was charging for the maintenance guy and how it came out to perfect and cool $500. Should I investigate this further? I feel as if they are trying to make a profit off of me.
^^^ In situation like this & with proper documentation...
I would much rather it be "finalized" in court... for who knows what more items she is going to find & have you dish up with more money.
People don't realize... court system is not really a "bad" thing...
It is a place where things gets recorded & judgement finalized.... and the judge may see that she is lying (especially if unable to come up with "proof" of all listed damages) & greedy & give a judgement accordingly.
The beauty of it is she cannot come after you for more after the whole thing is settled by a judge.
Your LL sounds like a "scamer" to me... have as much documentation as you can on her.
I am a student at Syracuse University and I live in a apartment complex near campus. I accidentally broke a window and agreed to pay for the cost. It was a small window double paned. The apartment manager charged me 500 dollars! Before paying for the cost I asked for the receipt. The company they bought it from charged only $396.20 to make and install. The manager tacked on another $103.80 for Dave's time who is the maintenance guy. But isn't that their job? Isn't in their contract to do repairs? I talked to Dave and he wasn't even sure where the cost was coming from. The manager didn't even show me the rate that she was charging for the maintenance guy and how it came out to perfect and cool $500. Should I investigate this further? I feel as if they are trying to make a profit off of me.
You're not responsible for the time of the maintenance man who is employed by the property management company. He's employed by them and that's part of his job to look, see, evaluate and report back.
I suggest you send the manager a return receipt certified letter enclosing your cheque for $396.20 to cover the costs of the materials and replacement of the window as per the invoice. Letter as follows:
"Dear Sir,
In accordance with the receipt I have received (copy enclosed) for the installation of a window in Apartment ___ which I accidentally broke, I enclose my cheque in the amount of $396.20 which covers all the costs. I decline payment of an additional charge of $103.80 for the maintenance man since he is employed by you and his services are not for my account.
I apologize for the accidental breakage.
Sincerely yours,"
Just do that and then come back if you're again approached. I rather doubt you will be. Oh, and be more careful in future. Less alcohol leads to better brainpower and better learning.
In my opinion, for something damaged by the tenant's actions, whether malicious or by accident, it is reasonable for the PM company to charge the tenant a SMALL fee for having to investigate the problem (including gas to get there), coordinate the repairs, pay the bill, collect back the reimbursement, etc. Those things do take time, and it is reasonable that if your actions caused the damage, you should pay both labor and materials, and part of the labor was on the part of the PM. But I think 10% is more than fair, which in this case would be about $40. I think even that is pushing it a little. We'd maybe charge $25 over hard cost for this sort of repair, if anything. And we'd only charge that if it wasn't the first time they had broken something.
But then again, we manage houses and plexes, that are spread all over town, and don't have an on-site maintenance person. In an apartment complex, as you said this is, with Dave the handyman on-site daily, I think it is unreasonable to charge anything for his time. So maybe $10 for the 30 minutes they spent on the phone coordinating repairs and doing the bookkeeping on the billing, but no more than that.
Never assume a case is dismissed unless you get a letter saying so from the court prior to the scheduled hearing date. Always go to the court date. Never assume where court is involved, show up even if you have paid.....documents are the only thing that matter to a court of law. You can try to talk to the clerk of court if you resolve it minutes before the hearing, but once a case is filed, only the judge can dismiss. Gotta show up.
Never assume a case is dismissed unless you get a letter saying so from the court prior to the scheduled hearing date. Always go to the court date. Never assume where court is involved, show up even if you have paid.....documents are the only thing that matter to a court of law. You can try to talk to the clerk of court if you resolve it minutes before the hearing, but once a case is filed, only the judge can dismiss. Gotta show up.
Another situation where there's a new question now being answered which was tagged onto an old thread.
Disagree with you, Lacerta. The maintenance man is paid for his services and that's what he's there for.
That isn't disagreeing with me. I said at the end that since this is an apartment complex, and the maintenance man is on-site, that paying for his service was probably unreasonable. The $10 I said was probably fair was for the landlord having to pay the bill for the work and collect payment back, and coordinate everyone. And like I said, we wouldn't charge this to a tenant unless they were a habitual offender, but that doesn't mean it is an unfair charge.
The property manager is being paid by the owner to watch the property, deal with fixing things that break, deal with tenant move ins and move outs, that sort of thing. They are not paid by the owner to fix things that the tenant breaks through their actions. The tenant should pay for that. Despite the fact that we very rarely charge one, I do think that a small fee is reasonable for tenant caused damage.
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