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My family - my husband, I and my 6-year old kid- sold our house in Texas and moved to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, a small town north of Philadelphia at the end of July 2017. We rented a 2 bedroom apartment at a rental of $1750/month. We paid $1630 security deposit and first month rental when signing the contract.
We bought a house and moved out in mid of Oct 2018. So we stayed in the apartment for 15 months. Used to be a home owner, We took good care of the apartment. We hired a cleaning company that did the move-in cleaning for our newly purchased house and did a whole apartment move-out cleaning. The staff from the cleaning company even commented that we took a good care of the apartment.
Today, I received the move-out charges from the apartment management, which are outrageous.
Kitchen - replacing countertop due to burn marks $1931.00
Excessive Stains on carpet $250.00
Pink stain on Vinyl floor in front of Stove $100.00
Stain sealer on hall bathroom & kitchen walls $30.00
full clean $180.20
administrative fee for services performed $45.00
The total is $2536.20. While the apartment keeps all our security deposit $1630.00, they further charge us another $906.20 in the letter I just received.
Here are what some of the items really are:
1. We did accidentally leave 3-4 small burn marks (size is about 1/2-1/3 of a finger nail) on the laminate countertop in the kitchen. Otherwise, the countertop is perfectly good. Yet, they charge us $1931.00.
2. The so called 'excess stains' are those traffic marks on the carpet near kitchen and bathrooms. I believe a professional carpet cleaning would do the job, which they apparently charged us $250.00.
3. The pink stain on the Vinyl floor is left by a mat, which is very very light. It should be cleaned if soaked in bleach for a while as suggested by the cleaner we hired. Yet, with the moving out and moving in, we didn't have time to treat it and thought a small charge from the apartment for it is fine. However, apparently, it is a $100 charge.
It is worth noting that the apartment management sent 4 people to do the walk through with my husband at the end of Oct and took pictures. My husband describes it as they would use magnifying glasses if they could. Before we bought our first house in Texas, we rent an apartment in Bensalem, PA (a small town east of Philadelphia) and later an apartment in San Antonio, Texas. Both times the apartment managements were very reasonable, fair and considerate. Since our good experience, it never occurred to us to take pictures and be prepared for such ridiculous charges.
We're going to call the management company of the apartment tomorrow and negotiate a charge of following:
Kitchen - burn marks on countertop $200.00
Excessive Stains on carpet $250.00
Pink stain on Vinyl floor in front of Stove $100.00
Others $50.00
Total $600.00
Apparently, the apartment management is trying to ruin holidays of their moved out tenants.
What do you expect them to do with the burn marks on the counter top? You say other than that the countertop is perfectly good. Well, how good is a countertop with burn marks on it? It has to be replaced, and will be.
My family - my husband, I and my 6-year old kid- sold our house in Texas and moved to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, a small town north of Philadelphia at the end of July 2017. We rented a 2 bedroom apartment at a rental of $1750/month. We paid $1630 security deposit and first month rental when signing the contract.
We bought a house and moved out in mid of Oct 2018. So we stayed in the apartment for 15 months. Used to be a home owner, We took good care of the apartment. We hired a cleaning company that did the move-in cleaning for our newly purchased house and did a whole apartment move-out cleaning. The staff from the cleaning company even commented that we took a good care of the apartment.
Today, I received the move-out charges from the apartment management, which are outrageous.
Kitchen - replacing countertop due to burn marks $1931.00
Excessive Stains on carpet $250.00
Pink stain on Vinyl floor in front of Stove $100.00
Stain sealer on hall bathroom & kitchen walls $30.00
full clean $180.20
administrative fee for services performed $45.00
The total is $2536.20. While the apartment keeps all our security deposit $1630.00, they further charge us another $906.20 in the letter I just received.
Here are what some of the items really are:
1. We did accidentally leave 3-4 small burn marks (size is about 1/2-1/3 of a finger nail) on the laminate countertop in the kitchen. Otherwise, the countertop is perfectly good. Yet, they charge us $1931.00.
2. The so called 'excess stains' are those traffic marks on the carpet near kitchen and bathrooms. I believe a professional carpet cleaning would do the job, which they apparently charged us $250.00.
3. The pink stain on the Vinyl floor is left by a mat, which is very very light. It should be cleaned if soaked in bleach for a while as suggested by the cleaner we hired. Yet, with the moving out and moving in, we didn't have time to treat it and thought a small charge from the apartment for it is fine. However, apparently, it is a $100 charge.
It is worth noting that the apartment management sent 4 people to do the walk through with my husband at the end of Oct and took pictures. My husband describes it as they would use magnifying glasses if they could. Before we bought our first house in Texas, we rent an apartment in Bensalem, PA (a small town east of Philadelphia) and later an apartment in San Antonio, Texas. Both times the apartment managements were very reasonable, fair and considerate. Since our good experience, it never occurred to us to take pictures and be prepared for such ridiculous charges.
We're going to call the management company of the apartment tomorrow and negotiate a charge of following:
Kitchen - burn marks on countertop $200.00
Excessive Stains on carpet $250.00
Pink stain on Vinyl floor in front of Stove $100.00
Others $50.00
Total $600.00
Apparently, the apartment management is trying to ruin holidays of their moved out tenants.
I'm writing here to ask for advice! Thanks!
I don’t know. It sounds like you left some damage. Burn marks on a countertop make that section virtually useless. So unless it’s separate, and the same material can be found, it has to be replaced.
The carpet you may have a case. High traffic areas wear quickly. If there weren’t actual stains, I’d fight it.
Here are what some of the items really are:
1. We did accidentally leave 3-4 small burn marks (size is about 1/2-1/3 of a finger nail) on the laminate countertop in the kitchen. Otherwise, the countertop is perfectly good. Yet, they charge us $1931.00.
2. The so called 'excess stains' are those traffic marks on the carpet near kitchen and bathrooms. I believe a professional carpet cleaning would do the job, which they apparently charged us $250.00.
3. The pink stain on the Vinyl floor is left by a mat, which is very very light. It should be cleaned if soaked in bleach for a while as suggested by the cleaner we hired. Yet, with the moving out and moving in, we didn't have time to treat it and thought a small charge from the apartment for it is fine. However, apparently, it is a $100 charge.
!
I think the above clearly explains the situation. You left damage behind and now don't want to pay for it. Why didn't you clean the carpet before you moved out? Oh, yeah..you have time. Well, I hope you have time to write that check.....
It seems that many of you thought that the charge is appropriate for a laminate countertop to be near $2000! Good for you!!! I'm glad that you're treated like this! But I'm going to fight for it...
It seems that many of you thought that the charge is appropriate for a laminate countertop to be near $2000! Good for you!!! I'm glad that you're treated like this! But I'm going to fight for it...
What size countertop? And the bulk of the bill would be for installation I'm guessing.
For the carpet, if the carpet was brand new, they may have a case. If the carpet was 5 yrs old or older, most judges wouldn't allow a penny, saying that it had reached the end of its useful life.
Burns on the laminate countertop would mean that it would have to be replaced. And unless they can get an exact match, they'd have to replace all the countertop in the kitchen. But I think that the price for it sounds exorbitant. Also, was there any damage to the countertops before you moved in? How old are they? If they're original to the unit, and the unit is old, I have a feeling that a judge would allow very little, saying that the countertop's useful lifetime had been near its end, anyway.
If you had the place professionally cleaned, and have receipts for that, you can fight that charge too.
Of course, this all depends upon how the courts are in your area. In my area, they tend to be very tenant friendly. Also, the judges in small claims and housing court really don't seem to know the law very well, so that when we (LLs) have gone in, we've had to take in the relevant legal code, and hand a copy of it to the judge and the opposing party, so that the judge had to rule in our favor. They don't like it, but they follow the law, if it's handed to them.
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Well, I hope you have time to write that check.....
