Security deposit Raleigh (rental, buying a home, buying)

[thadschug]

My family and I recently moved out of a rental house in the Raleigh area after buying a home nearby. Our landlords at the rental were real jerks, but we had no idea as we moved from another state and went through a company--Clark Properties. Anyway, we took good care of the house, payed every month on time for two years and left the house in arguably better condition than when we arrived. We are a family of five, with a dog (which was an additional non-refundable charge).

We had tried to arrange the check out the day of move-out, but the ownerns failed to have pick up utilities on our move out. Therefore, we had to wait 6 days for CP to do the move out. I had called CP prior to this to warn them this may happen and they said there would be no problem. To make a long story short, when we met with CP and the owners today CP person was taking orders from the owners on every tiny little scuff mark or tiny stain. We had the carpet prof. cleaned at the owners insistence, which is an issue because they were in such bad shape I decided to purchase a steam cleaner when we moved in. We had taken great care to patch all nail marks and to clean everything thouroughly. The owners were saying whole place would need repainting at our expense and we were responsible for the carpets. I took picture of all this as we went through.


My wife and I could tell this was going to happen months prior but she is really upset because we spent so much time cleaning etc. The deposit is 1295, but what bothers us more is that dishonesty and opportunistic behavior of the owners. Fortunately, we can eat the deposit and move on, but many others in this situation could not.

I plan to take the owners to court when they fail to return our deposit in hope to justify our situation. Unfortunately, I have no experience in Law so I am not sure what to do or expect other than persue small claims court. I would invite anyones's experience or opinions. I would also like to warn others of what may happen to them if they rent from these folks.

Thanks

[lovebrentwood]

I hope you sue them if they don't give you your money back.

Here's more advice for others:

Get a checklist off the Internet that lists the condition of each item in the home. Print out two copies. Here's a good one from Cornell: http://dos.cornell.edu/dos/cms/ocho/upload/Final-Rental-Property-Inventory-Checklist-and-Condition-form-12-08.pdf (broken link)

Ask for a walk-through with the owner or rental manager. Click off the condition of everything. Take multiple photos of every room and closeups.

Have the owner or rental manager sign the form after it is completed and attach photos.

When you move out, go through the same checklist with the owner/rental manager. Take just as many photos.

Have them sign the second checklist. If they don't do it, and they keep your deposit, take them to court with your documentation.

[thadschug]

Wish we had. We landed in the place after a 10 hr drive (from Ithaca, NY) in 103 heat were exhausted, naive this would happen, and now regret not being more thorough on move-in.