Being charged $1400 for "curry smell" by apartment at end of lease (Scottsdale: buy, cabinets)

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by PinkElephant

I just test drove a car that reeked of cigarette smoke. Less than 1 week later, the smell is entirely gone, carpets and upholstery intact.

All they did is air it out, no heavy perfumes at all.

Sure, ripping out replacing is quick and billable and keeps the economy flowing, so they are doing a good thing, right?

um, no, they didn't "just air it out" - at the least, they used an ozone generator to kill the stench.

But you can't fill an apartment with ozone without endangering the safety of the neighbors.

[zenjenn]

I don't get this. Cooking odors are normal wear and tear on apartments and carpet and paint is usually replaced anyways between tenants. I could see them keeping your cleaning deposit, but anything beyond that seems like they are being opportunistic.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

This link https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...moval&start=70 is from the 8th google page. As you, this isn't a unique situation.

That said, maybe the smell was mild and they decided to stick it to them.

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

I don't get this. Cooking odors are normal wear and tear on apartments and carpet and paint is usually replaced anyways between tenants. I could see them keeping your cleaning deposit, but anything beyond that seems like they are being opportunistic.

Odors are damage and carpets and paint aren't replaced between every tenant. If you cook stinky food open a window and air it out once I'm a while. If anything requires extensive cleaning or replacement to bring it back to the way it was before the tenant took possession minus normal, funky odors isn't normal, wear and tear the tenant will be charged for it.

Same goes for body odor, dog or cat stink, baby vomit, regular vomit, or any other nasty odor a tenant leaves behind. Clean up or get charged.

[Harpaint]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

I don't get this. Cooking odors are normal wear and tear on apartments and carpet and paint is usually replaced anyways between tenants. I could see them keeping your cleaning deposit, but anything beyond that seems like they are being opportunistic.

Leaving any kind of stink behind when you move out is NOT normal wear and tear on apartments!

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Zen88

My own 2 cents: I had a home where part of it was rented out as an apartment. My tenant, a vegetarian, used curry occasionally. This home had central AC, one zone, retrofitted, installed while I owned the house. The return was in my section. On the occasions that she did use curry, the stench was so bad, it made me sick. My eyes teared up, I had headaches, it was absolutely horrible. I sealed off her apartment as best as I could, to no benefit. I loved her as a person, she was a delightful person, so I felt very badly when I had to ask her to use it only rarely, because I still didn't think it was fair to demand that she stop using it completely. She felt bad, and stopped using it. Then, she used another spice that wasn't anywhere near as bad, but still had a strange stench. I had to ask her to slow that down, too. She eventually moved. There was no lingering odor in the home, Thank God.

No one complains about Italian tenants and the odors of oregano or garlic.
No one complains about the odors of fried plaintains from Spanish people
No one complains about the odor of beer and potatoes from an irish tenant

I would complain about a garlic smell. I HATE garlic and think it is one of the worst cooking smells there is, almost as bad as the smell of bacon (gag). My point here is, what "stinks" is subjective.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

I would complain about a garlic smell. I HATE garlic and think it is one of the worst cooking smells there is, almost as bad as the smell of bacon (gag). My point here is, what "stinks" is subjective.

Agreed. It's subjective. I hate the smell of parsley! Worse yet, it the smell of sugar. Don't get me started on the smell of salt!

But I do love the smell of Big Daddy's Garlic Bacon .

In all seriousness, Curry has some serious "hang time".

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed. It's subjective. I hate the smell of parsley! Worse yet, it the smell of sugar. Don't get me started on the smell of salt!

But I do love the smell of Big Daddy's Garlic Bacon .

The day my mom made fudge around the holidays when I was growing up was always the day I made sure to have plans out of the house. That smell really churns my stomach. I stay out of candy stores!

I love curry (had some amazing yellow curry yesterday for lunch!). Love the smell. Would I want to live in an apartment that smelled like it? No.

[mtnbkr5]

No it is not legal since you cook with it, and that is just general wear and tear on the apartment. In other words, it would be no different than any odors left behind from a pet.

I am a professional restorer. Curry outright STINKS! And more invasive and difficult to remove than cat urine odor.

If you are Indian then they are also discriminating against you since curry is essential to your cuisine which is from your heritage.

Waaa Waaa Waaa

As for removing odors, curry will go away quickly with windows open and carpets cleaned, and repainting.

Actually the necessary procedure is yes, clean carpets. Then, ozone treat the unit overnight. Repainting should not be required. May have to replace draperies though.

[SnowWhiteQueen]

I'm not sure what your lease states. A log time ago I moved into an apartment and on move in day I walked into the apartment and about passed it and vomited from the curry smell. I told the leasing consultants that the smell was really strong and they said they would come and spray something but it didn't help of course so they gave me another unit. You could smell it from outside the apartment and my clothes and the few boxes that were in the apartment smelled like curry. I only brought two boxes in and stopped the move in prices because of the smell. It was horrible. It's like smoke. It's next to impossible to get that smell out. I can understand them charging you because they won't be able to rent that unit out if it has a pungent smell. I'm so sorry this is happening.