How to contest move out charges?

[s2jbwood]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I bought my house in Nov 2004. Prior to that I live in an apartment complex for 18 months. Within two months after I moved into my house, I received a bill for $864.00 from the apartment complex. They charged me to replace all the carpet inside the three bedroom apartment. The complex was brand new, so my two roomates & I were the first people to live in the unit. I admit the carpets could have used a good cleaning, but it did not need to be replaced. I tried to get them to lower the bill, but they wouldn't budge. Now it has gone to collections and shows up on my credit report. I tried talking to the collection agency, but they will not agree to lower the bill. Is there anything I can do to fight this?

[Chien]

Chances are that you've waited too long to fight this as you should have. Every state has time frames within which a manager must present a list of repairs (beyond reasonable wear and there, which is not compensable) that they propose to charge to the tenant(s) for damage to the premises.

You should have done a "walk-thru" when you moved in and another when you moved out to ensure that there was agreement on what was claimed and how it was to be paid - such as a deduction from your security deposit. It doen't sound as if you did that and, unfortunately, it's likely that the time to deal with the owner is long past (3-4 weeks is a more normal statutory period).

Also unfortunately, some landlords try to use this right to "make the unit like new" and "fix" things where expenses aren't needed.

You would fight that kind of thing with the landlord by producing "before and after" pictures, getting invoices for work that was done, invoices for the purchase of the carpet when new and then allowing for depreciation etc. etc.

If you can't work something out with the agency, you might have to fight the battle with them in the same way, if they litigate.