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Old 08-10-2014, 09:57 AM
 
16 posts, read 39,987 times
Reputation: 11

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My family recently moved out of a home which we were renting. Prior to turning the home over the the LL we hired a team of professional cleaners and my husband patched up the few small nail holes in the wall and attempted to touch up the paint using the paint the LL left behind for us.

Due to fading of the paint, the touch up was not an exact match, it was close, but you could see the difference when looking at certain angles. My husband called the LL and told him about this and asked for his advice. He told us to take an inconspicuous corner of the wall and cut a piece of it and bring it to a home improvement store for a paint match. My husband followed his direction and did just that. The paint was still not a perfect match.

We turned the home over on July 1st. On that day we sent him an email with our forwarding address. My husband made several calls to him in the following weeks to try to reach him to make sure he got the email. On July 25 he sent another email asking him to please reply to his messages or email and on July 26 he sent another email providing our address "in case he did not receive it the first time".

On August 6th we received our deposit refund. Our original deposit was $1350 plus a refundable pet deposit of $650 (refundable is stated in the lease). The envelope it was mailed in was post marked August 5th indicating that he did not mail it out within the 30 days. Of the $2000 we gave for our deposit he returned $409.96. Here is what he charged us for:

$285 for professional cleaning (which we already had done)
$140 for carpet cleaning
$1100 for painting the home
$65.04 for light bulbs

I sent him a letter stating that we wanted our entire deposit back for several reasons. First being that he did not abide by the law stating that he had 30 days to return our deposit. And the other reasons being that all of the charges above fall under "normal wear and tear" There were no unusual stains on the carpets, our walls were not painted wacky colors, in fact we did not paint the walls while living there we kept them the same color they were.

He replied stating he would look into this but that we should go ahead and cash the first check as this would not change our ability to pursue our deposit (which I believe is false but I'm not positive).

Several days later he replied telling us the reason he did not get the deposit to us in time was due to lack of forwarding address and that once he was able to locate the address he sent the deposit to us, he made sure to point out the the check was written on July 18th ready to be mailed. He said he would refund the money for cleaning although the blinds were dirty and the baseboards needed wiping down. This was absolutely not true but even if it had been dirty blinds and baseboards are listed as normal wear and tear.

He said that he would not refund the rest because "while the touch up paint looked good from some angles, it was obviously touched up when looking at it from certain points in the room".

I believe I have a good case against the landlord. After all, we were good tenants, we made sure to leave the home sparkling clean and without any damages. The security deposit is in place to protect the LL in the event that the tenant causes damages or has unpaid rent or utilities against the home, at least from what I've read.

Is this worth taking him to small claims court? Do we have a leg to stand on here? Hoping for someone with more legal knowledge than I have to help shed some light for me.

Thank you!
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Old 08-10-2014, 01:44 PM
 
9 posts, read 28,977 times
Reputation: 24
Hopefully you kept all your receipts of the professional cleaning you had done, as well as took pictures of the place right before moving out. Save the original email providing the forwarding address, as proof of him receiving it. I would also keep the check and envelope it arrived in. If it were me, I would definitely pursue the matter against him, that's a large deposit that he kept.
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Old 08-10-2014, 02:51 PM
 
27,206 posts, read 46,570,943 times
Reputation: 15661
It all comes down to proof. The address doesn't matter since the LL should mail it to the last address known if no forwarding address is given.

I have seen court cases where tenants sue the LL and lost and had to pay more and the other way around as well.

Keep in mind you don't get money for time loss or filing fees if you loose.

In some cases it is better to weigh your options and see what is the best for your case. Is it worth and do you know how to file and what can you proof and what do you think the LL proof will be...
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Old 08-10-2014, 03:03 PM
 
274 posts, read 351,683 times
Reputation: 1020
I would absolutely make a demand letter for the deposit, and follow whatever NC laws are about meeting requirements before filing Small Claims.

You were beyond (too) conscientious, re the paint, as unless you come up with something quirky about NC law was your landlord's responsibility to begin with.

Light bulbs? Seriously!

Maybe these could be helpful:

North Carolina Landlord-Tenant Laws // Landlordology
https://suite.io/amy-haase/5a0m256

You sound like wonderful tenants!
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Old 08-10-2014, 03:44 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,276,581 times
Reputation: 35433
Here is what he charged us for:

$285 for professional cleaning (which we already had done)
$140 for carpet cleaning
$1100 for painting the home
$65.04 for light bulbs

![/quote]

On these charges is it simply in the letter as a statement or did he provide receipts? Really doesn't matter once he is past the 30 day limit its all a moot point. You bet your buns I would go to court over 1500 bucks. Especially if I left the place spotless.
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Old 08-10-2014, 06:35 PM
 
16 posts, read 39,987 times
Reputation: 11
Do you think a judge would consider it a moot point being that it was after 30 days? That's my thoughts. If he were trying to be reasonable at all I would be more willing to compromise but he's making false statements - saying the house was dirty and we do have a receipt for the $340 we spent for the cleaning - it's itemized showing what additional services we paid for - because we wanted to go above and beyond. I would hate for anyone up think a house I lived in was "dirty".

We sent him a demand letter and notified him that we had already contacted the attorney general and nc real estate commission who advised us but that we we really hoping to resolve this without pursuing legal action. He replied that he would give us the $285 back for the cleaning charge but not the $1100 for painting because we didn't use OOK brand hooks in the walls per the lease. We reviewed the lease and sure enough there is an addendum to it staying we should use those kind of hooks so maybe we would end up losing the case.

Unless the courts would side with us anyway because he was past the 30 day limit when returning our money?
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Old 08-10-2014, 08:05 PM
 
Location: Riverside Ca
22,146 posts, read 33,276,581 times
Reputation: 35433
Quote:
Originally Posted by treshay View Post
Do you think a judge would consider it a moot point being that it was after 30 days? That's my thoughts. If he were trying to be reasonable at all I would be more willing to compromise but he's making false statements - saying the house was dirty and we do have a receipt for the $340 we spent for the cleaning - it's itemized showing what additional services we paid for - because we wanted to go above and beyond. I would hate for anyone up think a house I lived in was "dirty".

We sent him a demand letter and notified him that we had already contacted the attorney general and nc real estate commission who advised us but that we we really hoping to resolve this without pursuing legal action. He replied that he would give us the $285 back for the cleaning charge but not the $1100 for painting because we didn't use OOK brand hooks in the walls per the lease. We reviewed the lease and sure enough there is an addendum to it staying we should use those kind of hooks so maybe we would end up losing the case.

Unless the courts would side with us anyway because he was past the 30 day limit when returning our money?

Usually the judge will look at if the law was followed as it's written. So if all this back and forth is AFTER the 30 day maximum refund of security deposit some judges don't really care. Even if you didn't use the OOK hooks he can only charge for that damage. But the LL had his allotted time to charge and let you respond. You may lose a portion on the damage from the nails but may get back on the paint especially if you did as asked by LL. Either way right now you're getting nothing back on LL say so. Some judges don't like LLs making arbitrary decisions that are unfair.

I hope you have pictures of the property as you left it.

And what kind of bulbs did he buy? The only bulbs that are that expensive are LED bulbs. He could of bought the saver packs. I wonder how many of those bulbs found their way in his house

Last edited by Electrician4you; 08-10-2014 at 08:45 PM..
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Old 08-10-2014, 10:31 PM
 
2,845 posts, read 5,993,717 times
Reputation: 3749
How long were you living there? $1100 to PAINT WTF were you renting a mansion?! I painted my mom's whole 2 bedroom apartment and the paint cost me $100, maybe another $100 for supplies?! Touch up spots that most likely would be covered up by new tenants anyways with their own pictures are insane to repaint the whole place... He just wanted to waste money from your deposit...

Also, when you moved out, did any lightbulbs not work? I would have said there is no reason to replace any lightbulbs so that is another charge to be removed. $65! Sounds like he went and replaced EVERY light in the house for the heck of it...

I'd go to small claims, I don't see you losing out any more than some fees. Bring the receipts that show you hired a pro (did he give you copies of receipts for all the charges?) I can't fathom spending that much on a pro if you already hired someone. I don't believe for one second that he had someone clean the place. Also if the baseboard and windows were dirty it sure as heck doesn't cost almost $300 for that kind of cleaning, MAYBE $50-70 if it's a large house and you hire a company that charges by the hour.
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Old 08-10-2014, 10:36 PM
 
16 posts, read 39,987 times
Reputation: 11
Yeah and only one wall even needed painting. We also found our original walk through paper in which we indicated that there were numerous holes already in the walls and some patch job painting. Thank you all for your opinions. I guess I just needed to know if I was being ridiculous to be upset for the charges. I think we could win the entire case just based on the fact that he didn't respond until after the 30 days were up.
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Old 08-11-2014, 05:54 AM
 
Location: Charlotte, NC
4,761 posts, read 7,793,996 times
Reputation: 5327
I'd give serious thought to taking him to court. I would talk to an attorney first, though.

Depending on where you are in NC and who the power company is, he could have received a free 12-pack of CFLs. That alone would make me question the rest of his accounting. $1100 doesn't seem too far off for painting considering the labor is the biggest expense. We have had contractors charge $700 to paint a 1br apartment in the past.

Do be aware that he will probably have his ducks in a row if he goes to court.

Again, talk to an attorney, or 3, first. Don't get too happy when you hear an attorney claim that you'll win, especially if he demands payment up front. The attorney will be the winner regardless of your outcome.

What county are you in?
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