RPA Tenant Rights Blog » landlord charges

landlord replacing “damaged” carpet and charging me for it

Tenant — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 21:35:30 +0000

I just moved out of my apartment after 4 months of living there and I just recieved notice that they ripped out all the carepts and need to replace them because of pet damage. Can they do this without notifying me first?

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Utility Charges

Tenant — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:01:20 +0000

I am being charges $70-$80 extra every month for water, sewage and garbage (I have no washer hookup). Supposedly the complex divides their charges up evenly between tenants (there is no separate metering). How do I know I’m being charged fairly? All I have to go on is the notice they give me.

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Landlord charges…

reno — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:33:59 +0000

In march my rent check did not go through .The check was written on the wrong checks. When I went to go pay my april rent they were rude and told me then my check had not cleared for march .Ipayed then for my rent for both months I asked why i was not told they said they did not have a number on file for me .I have moved out as of may and now they are trying to charge me a 200 dollar late fee for march can they do this I feel im all payed up on all my rent I feel they should have given me a notice when they did not get the rent for march. These landlord charges seem way offline and not fair. The way my apartment billing is set-up is unethical!

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Can landlord charge for carpet?

Cambria — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:36:35 +0000

My husband and I recently moved out of an aparment in Colorado Springs and when he returned the keys they never did a walk through with him afterwards. We recieved the bill about two weeks later and it is for 840 minus our 125 dollar deposit. Total it is about 720 that they claim we owe them. The main charge they put down was for replacing the carpet in the whole apartment. The carpet was not, by any means, ruined in the whole aparment. We had professional cleaners come in and clean before we moved out. There was a spot in the bedroom that is about 5 inches in diameter that was chewed due to a puppy we tried for a week and decided not to keep. When I went in to inquire further on the charges, she said they charged us for replacing all the carpet because it was replaced a week before we moved in and they cannot repair or replace carpet in just one room. So, we were charged with replacing all the carpet in the aparment. Is this appropriate?

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Landlord trying to charge my guest…

Sue — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:16:15 +0000

This is kind of complicated. The apartment my friend just left is trying to charge her over a years worth of fees for an unsigned lease. They are charging her not becasue she did not sign her lease but becasue her roommate’s former roommate did not sign her lease the last year she renewed it. She was renter1 of this apartment. She then roomed with another girl renter2 who had her own lease with the complex. Renter 1 moved out and my friend moved in with renter2 becoming renter3 in December of 2007. Well renter 2 moved out and now my freind renter3 is moving out. The complex charged her damages above the deposit which she paid because she knew when she moved in that she would absorb any damages previously there since the apartment had gone from roommate to roommate. However they are also trying to charge her for an unsigned lease from the dates 3-1-07 to 2-28-09 = to over $700.

I went with her to talk to managment to understand this since she herself never had an unsigned lease. They said when she moved in she absorbed all fees and damages. The damages she understood but the complex admits that this rule is no where in the lease she signed. Yet they are threatining to ruin her credit if she doesn’t pay the balance. They said she could sue and they would win! I understand that if she had damages but it is for fees from a previous renter. Both renters 1 and 2 are no longer even living in this country. I think they are just trying to bully my friend because she is foreign and young and an easy target. They also know she is moving out of state in a week.

Is this legal? Does she have to pay for a previous renter’s fees? Does she have any recorse?

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Unjustified Charges against Security Deposit

Tenant — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:54:47 +0000

My husband is stationed at Ft. Polk, LA. We were renting a home in Rosepine, LA through a local rental broker. We rented the home for 1 year and 1 month. We never had any negative issues with the broker throughout the year and were under the impression that we had a good relationship with the broker. We paid our rent on time every month with the exception of ONE month, September I believe, when due to miscommunication between my husband and I, the rent didn’t get get paid by the fifth. We went out of town and I thought he dropped a check and he thought I dropped a check. We contacted them and notified them of the error and took in a check as soon as we were back in town (one or two days later) and paid the 10% late fee without issue.

We gave them our writen notice to non renew our lease on May 14, 2010. Our lease end date was June 30, 2010. This was ample notification. We did not occupy the home the final month of the lease as we had rented a larger home on a larger lot where the lease began on June 1st. We have no family nearby and no one that could help us move, so ALL the packing, moving, and unpacking was done by my husband and myself. We both work full time, my husband working Saturdays. So this move was a long and drug out process but we did succeed in vacating the home, repainting the walls of my daughter’s room, touching up all nail holes, and throughly cleaning the interior of the home and appliances by June 30. I turned in the keys and garage door opener.

I called the rental office to confirm they received everything and to ask when the inspection would be done to be sure that I didn’t turn off the utilities prior to them going in. I was told that the broker handles the inspection and the deposit and to go ahead and shut the utilities off. So i shut off the utilites a week later. Betwenn my husband and I we called at least 5 times to speak to the broker about the inspection and deposit and he was never available. On July 7th we received a letter and a check from their office. The letter stated that they had deducted $100.00 for cleaning, $80.00 for Lawn mowing, and $125.00 for Pest Treatment for Roach Infestation. I used to work for another Rental agency in the area as the Assistant Rental Manager and performed the final inspection. The legal requirement is brush clean. I went beyond that when I cleaned the home. It was in more than "tenantable condition". The lawn was cut on the day we turned in the keys. The check they stated they wrote to the individual was dated one week after we moved out. This is Louisiana the grass grows exponentially in a day or so! As for the roaches, this is completely false. Never did we have any problem with any roaches. I am TERRIFIED of bugs period! There is no way I would have stayed in a home where there was an "infestation". I called the Pest control company and was told that the person who sprayed the home didn’t even remember spraying it. This is understandable as I’m sure they treat a number of homes per day, however it is reasonable to expect that in the case of an “infestation” a person would have some recollection only a week afterwards. I then spoke with one of the owner’s of the pest control company who stated that no one from his company observed any signs of an infestation. The treatment performed was an interior and exterior “standard treatment” for Smokey Brown cockroaches (not the German Roaches the letter claimed), which he confirmed are very common pests in this area of Louisiana. He also stated that in his opinion there was no evidence that we did anything to cause for the home to need to be treated. He stated simply that the realtor called, specifically requested the service, so they performed it.

Now I think anyone can see that these charges were general upkeep of a home to be listed for rent that a LANDLORD should expect to be responsible for. However, the Rental Agency tacked them on to our Security Deposit.

I wrote a letter outlining the amount disputed and the reasons we disputed them. I gave them 3 days to respond.

My question is…what do we need to do if they do not respond? Does anyone have any experience in this area?

Do we have a valid claim?

No we don’t have any pictures, because naively we believed we had a good relationship with this company and we have NEVER in the 5 years we have been renters of at least 3 other properties been in a situation like this.

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Say I owe back rent?

Adele Piro Graham — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:35:44 +0000

Hello, my name is Adele Piro Graham I have been renting in this building for 14 years. Moved there because there was a 24 hour front desk person, security cameras and a consigliore in the lobby during the day. These amenities had been the major reason for my moving the because I felt somewhat secure.After few years they took away the 24 Front desk assistance, the cameras and the lobby consigliore.No adjustments have been made on the amount of rent, in the contrary; there has been an increase in the rent every year. I receive a letter stating that I owe $1,500.00 in back rent from 2006. I have so far complied with the rent increase and always pay on time. To my recollection I have been paying rent accordingly to the lease agreement. I find this to be poor accounting serviceand I don’t think I should pay this amount. I really don’t want to move at this time. I don’t know if I should let them take me to court and what would be my chances of making my point to the Judge.What is your advice and can they evict me if I refuse to pay this amount?Thank you in advance

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Early termination due to job relocation

Tenant — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:08:39 +0000

Does anyone know what the statute of limitations is on an early termination lease due to job relocation > 120 miles in Arizona?

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Apartment Carpet Law…?

Jamie — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:16:57 +0000

While vacuuming our apartment, a strand of carpet became caught up in our vacuum, and a run was created in the carpet. We notified our landlord immediately, and they determined that it could not be patched. Now, they are insisting that the carpet needs replacing, and we are financially responsible. We feel as though there was a flaw in the carpet, and that we should not be faulted for performing standard cleaning practices. How can we be held responsible for carpet that falls apart with standard vacuuming?

Are we on the hook for this?

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