Apartment complex rant

[Russ79]

My wife's son and his wife just moved out of the apartment in Tyler where they were living and rented a house. They have a big Lab cross that they have had for about a year and they figured they needed to find something with a yard for the dog. So now the rant starts...they apartment complex has just hit them with close to $1000 worth of charges for wear and tear, replacement costs for items they say were damaged while living there. I understand there will be some costs associated with apartment living when you move out. The problem is that while they were living there the refrigerator went out right after they spent around $500 in groceries. The maintenance man came and replaced the refrigerator and said the apartment would credit them for the grocery loss if they present them with the receipt. Well now that they have moved out they will not honor the credit because they say there is no record of this in their files and the maintenance man that changed out the refrigerator doesn't work for them anymore. So my advice to any prospective apartment dwellers is to take lots of pictures when you move in and before you move out take pictures of the same areas/things you did the first time and then maybe get someone you trust to come in and give their opinion of what you need to do to minimize this. Fix/replace what you can because you know they won't be giving any discounts. Has anyone ever had any experience with something like this and what were you able to do to help resolve this.

[CaptainDave]

I used to live in an apartment. Normal wear and tear of appliances, etc, is typically not billed to the tenant. This also shouldn't be taken out of your security deposit.

Now, if you have a dog or cat, it's not as simple. First off, most pet deposits are completely un-refundable and if they believe your pet caused damage, it can be held against you.

But yes, at move-in you should document anything that is damaged or wasn't replaced at time of move-in. One of the biggest ones is carpet. If they don't replace the carpet whenever you move-in be sure to document that. Often times, these places will want to charge you at move-out for new carpet.

At the end of the day, $1,000 for repairs at the end of the lease seems excessive. What did the landlord claim was damaged? Did a pet tear anything up. Carpet stained anywhere? Any damage to walls, etc.

Oh and on the fridge deal. They are screwed. Any credits you earn from broke appliances or slow maintenance fixes are typically applied against the current or next month's rent; not at the end of a lease term.

[bowhunter2989]

Yup, if you don mind what complex was it? May have been one of then ones I used to live in and that doesnt shock me at all. Id request a meeting with apt manager and maintenance staff. Have them provide itemized list of damaged items and cost to repair them. Then have them physically show you what "said damaged" thing is and go from there. A lot of times they will charge you something like $200 for a carpet cleaning when it only costs them $50.... I bet if he does that he'll see that price drop by close to half

[Jaybo31]

Yup, if you don mind what complex was it? May have been one of then ones I used to live in and that doesnt shock me at all. Id request a meeting with apt manager and maintenance staff. Have them provide itemized list of damaged items and cost to repair them. Then have them physically show you what "said damaged" thing is and go from there. A lot of times they will charge you something like $200 for a carpet cleaning when it only costs them $50.... I bet if he does that he'll see that price drop by close to half

This. Do not give them a dime until they give you proof. If they cant, tell them to go pound sand. Apartments are the worst about this crap.

[wes122984]

before i bought a house i would always do an exit walkthrough with one of the managers of the complex. they go through a checklist with you there and if something is brought up you can discuss it together. the exit checklist is compared to the move in checklist.

i learned to do this after one tried to nail me with 3k worth of cleaning and reconditioning for leaving two (2) hangers in a closet.

[Patton]

My friends, who happened to be my neighbors last year and current roommates, delt with this when moving out in August '14. They did owe some money, but not what the apartment complex was trying to charge them. You have to be specific and ask for a detailed list of what needs to be done prior to moveout and what they will charge you for. I will just rattle off a few of the things I remember.
First their consideration of normal wear and tear was two holes per wall.
Replaceing lightbulbs -$50 each
Replacing window blinds (the cheap plastic ones)- $75
Replacing Air filter- $100

They also had one piece of paper with that stated "You must hire a professional cleaning crew and provide them with a reciept"
On a second document they said "You must use their professional cleaning crew, who will come to every apartment after moveout"

Look for discrepancies like this where you can get some money back.

My friends lived there for two years, and were given the option to not moveout for the required 7 days between their two contracts in August '13. During those 7 days all of the other apartment units were given wood floors, they were stuck with the original carpet. Move out in August '14 comes and they are charged with "Carpet Replacement"- and the landlords ended up putting in wood floors. They will try to pull a fast one on you any chance they get.

My friends ended up all losing their security deposits but said screw 'em when the apartment complex still wanted 3K. They had a lawyer send an email and never heard from them again.

[Russ79]

My wife has the complete itemized list of the charges. This was at River Oaks Apartments on Troop hwy. I haven't spent a lot of time scrutinizing it, but I guess I should since I will most likely be the one that will have to foot the bill.

[mastarter]

Sadly this is commonly a problem. It seems to be getting worse. Try to complete without litigation. We were accused of things that were ridiculous and had time stamped pics that proved we didn't do the things we were accused of but the judge still ruled in favor of the apartment. Of course we think it was because we were very young at the time but it didn't make it any better.

[CEO]

I moved out of an apartment one month early after my truck was stolen along with a few other vehicle. Rent was $750/month and the first bill I received was for just north of $4000. It was sold to a debt collector within a few months and became $8000. I told them if they could provide an itemized list of the charges I'd consider settling the debt. They became irate and said they didn't have that since they were not the original debt holder. I actually tried to give them $3000 as a settlement about five years after the incident when I was paying off all of my debt, they refused and told me I'd never be able to buy a house since I had this "real estate debt." I just laughed and said ok. Last apartment we had before we moved into our house the complex tried to charge us $1000 cleaning fee. Pictures of the unit squeaky clean along with a letter from an attorney had that taken care of quickly.