(no subject)
I moved out of my apartment in May. When I had moved in, the apartment complex was transitioning from one management company to another. Because of this, I believe, the people who had the apartment before me were not fully given a move-out inspection and I moved into a dirty apartment. The blinds were covered in dirt and cat hair, the AC filter was not clean, the carpet smelled and had several stains, and the walls were horribly scratched up. It sounds worse than it was, but the carpet and walls were bad.
I made sure to write down, very thoroughly, the extent of the non-cleanliness on my move-in inspection form and handed it in to Linda, the apartment manager--whose first day was my move-in day--in a timely fashion.
Throughout my tenure at the apartment, I had a decent relationship with Linda. Once, there was a complaint against me because of ROCK BAND and she came up and warned me. But other than that, pretty smooth. As I was moving out, she told me not to worry about removing some large furniture items; she knew people that could use them. And she told me I wouldn't be charged for them.
So I move out, and I make sure to tell her the carpet and walls were bad when I moved in.
Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago and I get my security deposit back--all $26 of it. They had taken out $150 to wash the carpets and almost $200 to paint everything. I was LIVID. I decided to write a demand letter, fully intending to take them to court for wrongfully withholding a portion of my deposit (can't withhold for normal wear and tear; can withhold to bring back to condition you got it in, but as I said, I got it dirty).
I waited awhile to calm down and then finally sent it out last week. It was short and to the point, and I didn't explicitly mention I was a lawyer in it--I just said they had ten days to request venue other Warren County as I worked for the Judicial District in Warren County.
I sent the letter out expecting for them to say BRING IT ON! and I would file a small claims action and get some FREE (minus court costs) legal experience. Win-win situation, in a way.
Today, I had a letter in the mail from them. I opened it up and found a CHECK for $320! And a letter apologizing for the oversight--the move-out inspection revealed the walls and carpets needed fixed, BUT I did disclose the conditions on the move-in inspection and that was the purpose of the inspection forms. Plus there was also a nice message about how Linda thought highly of me.
So, for the cost of one stamp, a piece of paper, and an envelope, I was able to successfully "make" $320! Now I can almost pay for 1/2 my car insurance!!!
I made sure to write down, very thoroughly, the extent of the non-cleanliness on my move-in inspection form and handed it in to Linda, the apartment manager--whose first day was my move-in day--in a timely fashion.
Throughout my tenure at the apartment, I had a decent relationship with Linda. Once, there was a complaint against me because of ROCK BAND and she came up and warned me. But other than that, pretty smooth. As I was moving out, she told me not to worry about removing some large furniture items; she knew people that could use them. And she told me I wouldn't be charged for them.
So I move out, and I make sure to tell her the carpet and walls were bad when I moved in.
Flash forward to a couple of weeks ago and I get my security deposit back--all $26 of it. They had taken out $150 to wash the carpets and almost $200 to paint everything. I was LIVID. I decided to write a demand letter, fully intending to take them to court for wrongfully withholding a portion of my deposit (can't withhold for normal wear and tear; can withhold to bring back to condition you got it in, but as I said, I got it dirty).
I waited awhile to calm down and then finally sent it out last week. It was short and to the point, and I didn't explicitly mention I was a lawyer in it--I just said they had ten days to request venue other Warren County as I worked for the Judicial District in Warren County.
I sent the letter out expecting for them to say BRING IT ON! and I would file a small claims action and get some FREE (minus court costs) legal experience. Win-win situation, in a way.
Today, I had a letter in the mail from them. I opened it up and found a CHECK for $320! And a letter apologizing for the oversight--the move-out inspection revealed the walls and carpets needed fixed, BUT I did disclose the conditions on the move-in inspection and that was the purpose of the inspection forms. Plus there was also a nice message about how Linda thought highly of me.
So, for the cost of one stamp, a piece of paper, and an envelope, I was able to successfully "make" $320! Now I can almost pay for 1/2 my car insurance!!!