[ARIZONA]
I've run into some issues with my landlord since I told them that I wasn't renewing, and now that I've moved out it hasn't stopped.
I was renting a 2br apartment with myself and my wife in one room and a roommate in the 2nd bedroom. The roommate hasn't been paying us her share of the rent for about 6 months, so we told her we were going to move to a 1br and that she'd have to move out when our lease was up. I asked the landlord if a 1br unit would open up soon and she said there were 2 opening up at the end of July (our lease expired on July 31st, so it was perfect). I told her about 2 months before our lease was up that we'd want to move to a 1br, and she said that would be fine and she'd let me know which one we would get asap. A couple of weeks later she told me that a married couple had moved into one of the 1br units and that they would 'swap' with us at the end of the month. There was still one 1br unit completely empty, but she insisted that we 'swapped' instead (meaning that we move into their apartment as they move into ours). Through a combination of not wanting to deal with the hassle of such a bizarre moving practice as well as my wife finding a 2br house with a huge yard for $25 more a month, we told the landlord we had decided to pass on the 1br and would instead move out. The landlord said she could 'appreciate the need for more space' and that was that.
Last week, though, things went south...
1) On July 28th, three days before our lease expired, the landlord's husband (the guy that does all the maintenence) entered our apartment unannounced. He startled my roomate - she thought he was me, and was quite to surprised to see a stranger in our house. He surveyed the boxed items and furniture on the lower level and told her to 'get this crap out of here' - even suggesting that she pawn my guitar and sell my couch to speed the process. He told her if she cleared out the apartment he would return the deposit in full to her and let her sort it out with me - 'don't even worry about cleaning the floors or the walls, just clear this junk out of here,' he said.
2) I sent an angry email to our landlord that night explaining that I did not appreciate having people enter my apartment without notice. AZ law requires 48 hour notice, and none was given.
3) On Friday morning (the 31st, the last day of my lease) I entered the apartment to move the last few boxes and sweep/mop the floors. When I entered I noticed that the walls were spackled (covering pin holes from hanging posters) and the sink downstairs as well as the toilet upstairs were being worked on. As I was moving one of the boxes out, I shut the door behind me and walked toward the parking lot - the landlord's husband walked right by me, without saying anything (just kinda nodded his head at me) and walked into the apartment (didn't even knock to see if my roommate was in there).
4) After I finished moving my last few boxes I left my keys on the counter and left. I went home and emailed the landlord saying that I had left the keys on the counter and that I was unable to finish cleaning the apartment due to her husband (and his daughter) being in the unit (can't really mop with people walking all over the place).
5) I got an email yesterday telling me that 'to date' the cleaning and repair fees were 'far exceeding' my deposit and that I should expect a bill rather than a check in the mail. (it's quite unbelievable to me that their billing could 'far exceed' my $1,000+ deposit when all of the appliances were fine and there is no carpet in the entire apartment. Also, the toilet and sink were both fine.)
--
So.... what are my rights? The landlord never supplied me with a move-in checklist and we didn't do a walk-through of our actual unit (she showed us a neighboring unit), and I didn't stay for the move-out walk-through (wouldn't have had anything to compare it to, anyway). Am I responsible for cleaning fees resulting from my landlord's husband illegally being in my apartment? If I end up in small claims court over this, how can I address the issue of my landlord's husband being in my apartment without my consent (how do I know that any 'damage' they bill me for wasn't actually caused by him??)? What is my landlord required to show in order to prove my responsibility for these alleged damages (meaning, they could trash a perfectly good dishwasher and buy a new one and bill me... but what would a judge need to see in order to determine that it NEEDED to be replaced?)
Thanks for any input you guys have!!
I've run into some issues with my landlord since I told them that I wasn't renewing, and now that I've moved out it hasn't stopped.
I was renting a 2br apartment with myself and my wife in one room and a roommate in the 2nd bedroom. The roommate hasn't been paying us her share of the rent for about 6 months, so we told her we were going to move to a 1br and that she'd have to move out when our lease was up. I asked the landlord if a 1br unit would open up soon and she said there were 2 opening up at the end of July (our lease expired on July 31st, so it was perfect). I told her about 2 months before our lease was up that we'd want to move to a 1br, and she said that would be fine and she'd let me know which one we would get asap. A couple of weeks later she told me that a married couple had moved into one of the 1br units and that they would 'swap' with us at the end of the month. There was still one 1br unit completely empty, but she insisted that we 'swapped' instead (meaning that we move into their apartment as they move into ours). Through a combination of not wanting to deal with the hassle of such a bizarre moving practice as well as my wife finding a 2br house with a huge yard for $25 more a month, we told the landlord we had decided to pass on the 1br and would instead move out. The landlord said she could 'appreciate the need for more space' and that was that.
Last week, though, things went south...
1) On July 28th, three days before our lease expired, the landlord's husband (the guy that does all the maintenence) entered our apartment unannounced. He startled my roomate - she thought he was me, and was quite to surprised to see a stranger in our house. He surveyed the boxed items and furniture on the lower level and told her to 'get this crap out of here' - even suggesting that she pawn my guitar and sell my couch to speed the process. He told her if she cleared out the apartment he would return the deposit in full to her and let her sort it out with me - 'don't even worry about cleaning the floors or the walls, just clear this junk out of here,' he said.
2) I sent an angry email to our landlord that night explaining that I did not appreciate having people enter my apartment without notice. AZ law requires 48 hour notice, and none was given.
3) On Friday morning (the 31st, the last day of my lease) I entered the apartment to move the last few boxes and sweep/mop the floors. When I entered I noticed that the walls were spackled (covering pin holes from hanging posters) and the sink downstairs as well as the toilet upstairs were being worked on. As I was moving one of the boxes out, I shut the door behind me and walked toward the parking lot - the landlord's husband walked right by me, without saying anything (just kinda nodded his head at me) and walked into the apartment (didn't even knock to see if my roommate was in there).
4) After I finished moving my last few boxes I left my keys on the counter and left. I went home and emailed the landlord saying that I had left the keys on the counter and that I was unable to finish cleaning the apartment due to her husband (and his daughter) being in the unit (can't really mop with people walking all over the place).
5) I got an email yesterday telling me that 'to date' the cleaning and repair fees were 'far exceeding' my deposit and that I should expect a bill rather than a check in the mail. (it's quite unbelievable to me that their billing could 'far exceed' my $1,000+ deposit when all of the appliances were fine and there is no carpet in the entire apartment. Also, the toilet and sink were both fine.)
--
So.... what are my rights? The landlord never supplied me with a move-in checklist and we didn't do a walk-through of our actual unit (she showed us a neighboring unit), and I didn't stay for the move-out walk-through (wouldn't have had anything to compare it to, anyway). Am I responsible for cleaning fees resulting from my landlord's husband illegally being in my apartment? If I end up in small claims court over this, how can I address the issue of my landlord's husband being in my apartment without my consent (how do I know that any 'damage' they bill me for wasn't actually caused by him??)? What is my landlord required to show in order to prove my responsibility for these alleged damages (meaning, they could trash a perfectly good dishwasher and buy a new one and bill me... but what would a judge need to see in order to determine that it NEEDED to be replaced?)
Thanks for any input you guys have!!
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