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I'm being charged $400 to replace the carpet in the apartment i just moved out of, due to "pet urine stains." But in the 14 months that i lived there, not one animal ever set foot in my apartment. No friends' pets, no family pets, no pets whatsoever. The landlord said the previous two tenants both did not have pets and they both received their security deposits back in full. The apartment company has documentation (or so they say, i have not seen it yet) from an independent carpet cleaner as well as photos showing that there were urine stains in the living room and bedroom. They are keeping my $200 security deposit and charging me an extra 200 for the stains.
Is it possible for me to win this case when it's just my word against their documentation? I could just pay the 200 and call it a day but it's more about the principle at this point.. i don't want to pay for someone else's pet's urine stains.
They can't charge you full replacement value for the carpet, they would have to depreciate it over the life of the carpet. For instance, if the life of the carpet was 10 years, and it was 5 years old when you moved in...he could only charge you a percentage of the replacement.
So, he's out of line anyway.
I say send him a certified letter demanding all of your deposit back, and that if you don't get it you will take him to small claims court and ask the court to make him pay your court fees, too (which you will get if you win - usually around $100).
You have to ask for your money before you can take him to small claims court, anyway, as part of the process. Give him a deadline. If he doesn't pay, yes, go to court and ask for your court fees to be included in your claim.
The worst case scenario I see is that you only get some of your money back, instead of all of it back.
You might want to check into your state's laws regarding security deposit refunds to see if he followed all the other rules, too, like getting the list of itemizations to you within the time limit, etc.
thanks for the response. they did indeed get the itemized list to me in time. But looking at it from a judge's point of view, how can i prove that i never had a pet in there? especially when they have proof of these urine stains? Clearly there is urine there. i just don't want this $400 fine to end up turning into $1000+ if i were to take it to court and then lose, and have to pay THEIR court costs and any other fees that are accrued during this process.
What state are you in? Can attorneys go to small claims court where you are?
If no attorneys, then his court costs will be probably $100 or less.
And the thing is, he can't charge you full replacement value. Even if you DID have a dog that peed on it.
A judge will see that this guy tried to get a new carpet out of you. That makes the LL look like a shyster. And he'll be more likely to believe that you never had a pet there.
You can also take witnesses to small claims court. Take friends and family who will say you never had a dog there. You can also take notarized statements, if I remember correctly.
The thing is, even if the judge thinks you did have a dog there that peed, he's not going to say you have to pay for a new carpet. So, the guy isn't going to get his court costs put onto you, because he won't win. The judge might say you both have to pay your own costs. But, I really believe that the judge will make the LL pay your costs.
In CA if a LL keeps a deposit or part of a deposit in "bad faith" then they can be made to pay you twice the amount of your deposit. Maybe there's a similar law where you are. You could mention this to the LL too, and you can always add it to your lawsuit, even if you don't get it. It might be enough to make him give it up.
This guy's being a bully. Call his bluff. For all you know, he went in there after you moved out with a dog or a friend was in there with a dog who peed, and he decided to try and get you to pay for it.
Judge's are not stupid and in my experience they're really fair. My daughter's been in small claims court in CA 3 times over deposits not being fully refunded - and she won every time.
thanks for the response. they did indeed get the itemized list to me in time. But looking at it from a judge's point of view, how can i prove that i never had a pet in there? especially when they have proof of these urine stains? Clearly there is urine there. i just don't want this $400 fine to end up turning into $1000+ if i were to take it to court and then lose, and have to pay THEIR court costs and any other fees that are accrued during this process.
Based on what they claimed and where they claim it was, can you come up with any conceivable explaination for the stains? You need to think about this carefully as they have some type of proof and proof is not easy to discredit. So if in your mind you realize that 6 months ago you spilled something in that area, you may want to just deal with the cost and not the reason.
Any product spilled on the carpet with ammonia in it can show as urine... Windex with ammonia in it is an example. Wasn't there when you moved in.... there was you moved out. Your responsible.
thanks for the response. they did indeed get the itemized list to me in time. But looking at it from a judge's point of view, how can i prove that i never had a pet in there? especially when they have proof of these urine stains? Clearly there is urine there. i just don't want this $400 fine to end up turning into $1000+ if i were to take it to court and then lose, and have to pay THEIR court costs and any other fees that are accrued during this process.
What "proof" do they have? Did they hire a CSI lab to test the stains and affirm they were animal urine?
Did you have a baby? Did a past renter have an infant? Now those little critters can cause stains too!!
What state are you in? Can attorneys go to small claims court where you are?
If no attorneys, then his court costs will be probably $100 or less.
it's a chain of apartments. Just one apartment complex of many under the same ownership in the New Orleans/Metairie, LA area. So technically my "landlord" is corporate. It looks like they do everything by the book.
After talking with them on the phone today, i learned that after 60 days if i don't respond to any of their letters and pay the balance, they hand everything off to their attorneys.
And no babies or other incidents on the carpet. There WAS however a flood earlier in the year from when a 3rd floor water heater busted and leaked water through the walls into my apartment. Got some water stains which they did come and shampoo, but they're still there. I told them that and they shrugged that right off. Still, i was told there was "50% urine in the living room and 30% urine in the bedroom." I don't know what that means or how they came up with those numbers, but that sounds like multiple urine spots.
I'm going to write them a letter tomorrow. This will definitely be a learning experience for me.
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