Deposit

By Amanda

We just moved out of a rent house and upon leaving we cleaned the whole house and had carpets cleaned.  We did a walk through with half of the Landlord duo before handing over the keys.  After the walk through my husband asked if he saw anthing horrible that was wrong and he said the only thing he say was the oven wasn’t cleaned and the window seals were dirty.   Now after getting part of our deposit back the landlords wife wrote and said she spent eleven hours cleaning the house because it was disgusting and dirty.  She charged us 136 dollars for the supposebly cleaning she had to do.  Can they do that?  What are my rights here, cause that house was not dirty when I left and the whole year and half we were in it I cleaned all the time.

Edited on: Saturday, April 5th, 2008 9:32 am

2 Responses to “Deposit”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Agent Paxton

April 7th, 2008 2:55 pm

Amanda,
When it comes to the refund of deposits its always best to do a final walk-through with your landlord, just like you did. This allows you to determine how the landlord might charge your deposit. Rest assured that landlords can only charge for items that are beyond normal wear and tear. Most contracts will have a “non-refundable” portion of the rent deposit to cover basic cleaning. Regardless you will have the right to a break-down of how your deposit is charged. A simple letter stating that the unit was dirty is not deemed as valid proof. Landlord’s can charge you for their time to clean the rental. As with anything you can always dispute the charges. Wrongful and unfair charges to security deposits are the most common complaint mediated by the RPA. You can file a complaint with the RPA, or you can try to dispute it yourself. Since the husband told you that they would need to clean the oven and window seals… you should be able to use that as a guidline as to how many hours they can charge against your deposit. 11 hours seems too high, and most likely could be adjusted to a more fair amount.


kayla

March 6th, 2013 7:59 pm

i have to be out of my trailor by the 15th of this month me and my family have been freezing not able to take a shower and on top of that the stove has not been working for 2 months whats the point in paying rent if my landlord will not fix anything.. so we are moving and all i can afford is rent not a deposit and im needing some help


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