New management in apartment complex has no record of pet deposit fee (lease)

[Flierfly]

Hello! So we just moved out of an apartment complex. We moved into the apartment complex January 2016. In July 2016, a new company bought the complex. Now that we just moved out, they say they have no record of our pet deposit fee. The pet deposit was $500, we have a bank statement showing that we purchased the $500 money order on January 4, 2016. We tried to call the money order company and they said they can't look up who processed the money order unless it's within a year of it being purchased, and it's also a $40 fee. We have a copy of our first lease and are searching for the stub for the original $500 money order.

Apartment complex is saying they don't know what to tell us and that they can't do anything cus they don't have a record of us ever paying a pet deposit fee. I don't know what else I should do. I've currently been corresponding with the manager of our apartment complex. I asked him to pass on the contact details for the corporate company, but he did not provide that information. Surely I can look it up onlinr and contact them..? Please let me know if anyone has any advice. I'm out of my depth, I don't know what I can or should do. I really don't want to be screwed over, $500 is a good chunk of cash for us...

[SelwaySasquatch]

Consider it $500 tuition at The School of Hard Knocks.
You may or may not have learned a few things, e.g.......

-Using money orders is ill advised, but if you must, make sure to obtain official receipts
which include specific information, I.e., don't rely on money order stubs as proof of payment.

-Expect that most of the time you won't receive pet deposits back.
When we rented, part of the deal was always that pet deposits were non-refundable.

-Realize that landlords in general don't want peoples' pets in their units,
but if they do happen to allow it, you're gonna pay extra one way or another.

-If you don't like the way landlords run their businesses, buy your own house.

[Teufelshund20]

If it says somewhere on your lease that you must pay $500 for a dog deposit and the complex knew you had a dog then they would know you paid a deposit. Find your lease.

[Flierfly]

Also, my pet is an emotional support animal, and we were told that we would receive our full deposit back at the end of our lease since we weren't supposed to pay a fee at all for an emotional support animal. THis apartment complex also accepts only payments from money orders haha. So there was no other way to pay any fee, deposits, rent, etc.

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by SelwaySasquatch

Consider it $500 tuition at The School of Hard Knocks.
You may or may not have learned a few things, e.g.......

-Using money orders is ill advised, but if you must, make sure to obtain official receipts
which include specific information, I.e., don't rely on money order stubs as proof of payment.

-Expect that most of the time you won't receive pet deposits back.
When we rented, part of the deal was always that pet deposits were non-refundable.

-Realize that landlords in general don't want peoples' pets in their units,
but if they do happen to allow it, you're gonna pay extra one way or another.

-If you don't like the way landlords run their businesses, buy your own house.

This^^^^

Or get an attorney.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

$500 is a pretty cheap price for an important lesson. Always keep copies of important documents in a safe place. You should have your lease, your receipt for the pet deposit, your carbon of the money order all kept where you can put your hands on them easily. (Plus a copy of your renter's insurance policy and the receipt that you paid for that)

No, your landlord isn't going to hand you $500 unless there is some record that you gave them $500 in the first place. You should have that proof in your files.

$40 for a copy of that money order seems a cheap price to get proof that you paid $500.

[javatom]

It all sounds very emotional. Its a good thing you have an emotional support animal.

[Flierfly]

Originally Posted by javatom

It all sounds very emotional. Its a good thing you have an emotional support animal.

It's disgusting that you think it's clever to mock people with disabilities. If someone was in a wheelchair, would you tell them, "sounds like you can't stand it. Good thing you have a wheelchair since you can't stand." Think twice before you try to put someone down and have some human decency.

Anyway, we did locate the receipts and copy of the money order, and our lease. We ended up having to contact the company that owns our apartment complex, and they DID have record of the $500 pet deposit. Our landlord was just trying to pull a fast one by saying that no one had record of it. Not the first time, he also changed the date on our lease (but of course that didn't work in his favor). No wonder he wouldn't give me their contact information when I asked him for it.

Sure you could say $500 is cheap to learn a lesson, but I don't think people should just roll over and give up when someone is trying to scam them. And I'm glad I did not do that. It's important to hold people accountable rather than just accepting the blame of something that you're not at fault for.

[Harpaint]

Glad you got it back! Glad you were smart enough to keep the necessary documents!