I worked for a property management company for nine years. Most of those years were a fiery pit of Hell On Earth. But despite the toxic environment and the fact that I worked in the accounting department (as opposed to the property management department) I picked up a few things about renting and the rules that apply.
The last place we lived was the very first time I ever signed my name to a lease. (I wasn’t on the lease at the house we lived in before that. Technically, only two of the eight people who lived there were. But that’s a whole other can of worms.) And from the day we moved in, we knew that the landlord was going to be a royal clusterfuck. We don’t know all the details of what happened with the previous tenant, other than she broke her lease, but between the conflicting stories we heard from both sides, we knew no matter what we did while we lived there, moving out was going to be a nightmare.
And it was.
Our final lease was up May 31st. Bob and I moved out on the 15th. The roommates* moved out at the end of the month. We went back and cleaned our bedroom and bathroom. Patched the holes we created in the walls and a few that were still there from the previous tenant. We touched up the paint, as was required in the lease, and even though it didn’t match perfectly (how many shades of flat, white paint are there, seriously?) it still looked better than all the black marks that were all over the wall FROM THE PREVIOUS TENNANT.
It should be noted that when we moved in, the carpet had not been cleaned, nor were the walls painted.
There was some kind of issue with the carpet when we moved in, again conflicting stories from both sides, so we got it in writing that we were not responsible for the carpet when we moved out.
There were plenty of issues that made these people a pain in the ass to deal with. Getting them to return phone calls was just the tip of the iceberg. But we lived there for two years and fulfilled the terms of our lease.
When we gave notice to vacate, we made sure we sent it well in advance of the required 60 days. And we simply stated we “needed more space” as our reason for leaving. It took them a few weeks to even acknowledge that they received it, and that was when the fun started.
And by fun, I mean, the sonofabitch we dealt with was lucky I hadn’t shot him in the face by the time we moved out.
It was in our lease that we had to have the carpet professionally cleaned. So we hired the guy who cleaned the carpets in our house before we moved in (and came highly recommended by our real estate agents).
On the day we had our final move-out inspection, Bob and I were the only ones who showed up to meet Landlord McDouchebag. Our roommates were conveniently unavailable to attend. And with that—they threw us under the fucking bus. They did not clean ANYTHING. Aside from our bedroom and bathroom, the house was filthy. And Landlord McDouchebag was not happy with the carpet o the walls. He had a lot of nasty, negative, insulting things to say to us.
And then I had a panic attack and went to go sit in the car. Leaving poor Bob to deal with him by himself.
Fast forward to July 23rd. (Almost 2 full months since we all moved out, by now.) Bob and I had spent all day dealing with the Mystery Leak That Won’t Die. The last of the people had just left and the doorbell rang. It was the mail carrier with a certified letter that needed a signature.
Bob told me who it was from. We knew the clusterfuck was far from over.
He sat down on the couch and looked at the paper contained in the envelope. He just stared at it for a minute or two, and handed it to me without saying a word.
It was an invoice. For FOUR THOUSAND-some odd dollars in damages and repairs. And that was AFTER our security deposit had been deducted.
The biggest expense was for the carpet. Or rather, the installation of PERGO FLOORING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE HOUSE. The cleaning, and maybe even the painting charges I could understand. But $3000+ for flooring? Uh-uh. Think again.
He also added a charge of 11 days rent because the new tenants weren’t able to move in right away due to all the repairs.
Um…Asshole? You can’t charge us for rent past our lease expiration if we’ve already moved out.
So Bob contacted our prepaid legal people. We have a prepaid legal service offered through his work. He forwarded all relevant information to the law firm and they wrote a letter.
We got a copy of the letter today. It quotes state statutes…you know, LAWS that negated pretty much the entire invoice Landlord McDouchebag sent to us. His first mistake was not getting the invoice to us within 21 days of move-out. That’s an automatic fail right there. Our security deposit owed back to us was now double. He can’t charge us for rent past the expiration of our lease. He can’t charge us for ridiculously expensive flooring he chose to install throughout the entire house.
In short:
Your ass. Let me hand it to you.
He has 30 days to respond. And by respond, the letter states he must send us a certified check for the money we’re owed. Or he can try to keep it going. And we WILL take him to court if need be. Where he will lose, because once you miss that 21 day mark? The landlord always loses.
We’ll see what happens now.
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*Despite them being family (my in-laws) I feel the need to refer to them as “roommates” to detach myself from the situation when I talk about it. As much as I love them (I actually LIKE my in-laws) having them as roommates is something I REFUSE to do EVER. AGAIN.
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