What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Alabama
Earlier this afternoon I received a letter from our old apartment complex claiming that we owe them $1,082 in damages to our unit. Our lease termination date was September 25th 2008, we ended up turning in our keys on September 24th (Rent was paid in full for that month). The letter we received is postmarked for November 12th 2008 and was not sent First Class, we provided them with a forwarding address but they addressed the envelope to the unit we lived in at their property. The letter lists our lease end date as September 25th 2008 and our move out date October 1st, thankfully they aren't concocting charges for going over our contract date, but they've listed on the letter some odd charges.
They claim that they had to do excessive cleaning, replace all of the carpet and make some repairs. Some of the odd items listed;
-The master bedroom door closes and locks, but doesn't click shut. We reported this problem to the maintenance manager at the time and we were told it was normal, the apartment settling.
- The tile soapdish wasn't caulked sufficiently in the master bathroom and it became loose and fell but did not break. The maintenance manager spackled(?) where it had been and said he would return within two days to affix the soapdish again, he took it with him and never returned. We are being charged $25.00 to replace the soapdish, I can only assume they are accusing us of taking it.
- We never did a move-in walk through, we were provided a form and told to fill it out then give it back by the end of our move-in day. After turning the form in we noticed that the front door of our unit, which had never been lived in, had some dings on it and had been touched up with off colored paint. We spoke with the assistant property manager and informed her of this, she said that she would make a note of this on that form. According to this letter that is one complaint as well.
- We paid our cable company to have an extra coax outlet installed in the master bedroom as there were none. Maintenance assured us that they would take care of this, after a month we got tired of waiting. In the letter they claim that there should be two outlets present so they tacked it on the list.
- We are being charged to replace the AC filter, though it makes no mention of it being our responsibility in the lease. When we initially moved in they replaced a fuse on the AC, one of about three times, and also put in a new filter. Not sure why we are being charged for another AC filter as it isn't listed as something we are responsible for.
I admit that the carpet was damaged in all but the second bedroom, it was a cheap imitation berber carpet, my wife had the good fortunes of talking with the builder who installed the carpeting and he called it "paper carpet", something that they had to replace quite often as it was cheaply made. According to them it cost $1k to replace the carpeting and pad. We paid a $200 security deposit and $500 for two pets, apparently the pet deposit doesn't cover any damage caused by the pets... although I'm not sure what the purpose of the deposit is then.
I'm more than happy to pay for the damages provided they correctly invoice us for the unit. The above mentioned peculiarities are few of the things I would like straightened out. Having done a little research I see that according to the Uniform Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (2007) that I came across on Alabama HUD's website that if we do not have a deposit returned to us or an itemized bill for damages sent within 35 days by first class mail we are entitled to double our initial deposit. They did not send this letter via FCM and it was not postmarked on the envelope until November 12th, would we be covered by this? (Article 2, Section E)
Additionally, the letter says that the full amount of the damages are due within 10 days of the postmarked date, is there any law stating the full amount has to be paid? In other words, are we legally able to pay them over a period of time? I have every intention of paying what is correctly due within 2-3 months. We were on great terms with the property manager, we never filed complaints, we worked around their maintenance schedule, paid our rent early. They practically begged us to stay, even going so far as to offer us two months of free rent.
Again, not trying to dodge this, I want to pay it off quickly but I want to pay the correct amount.
Thoughts and answers?
Thanks;
Robert
Earlier this afternoon I received a letter from our old apartment complex claiming that we owe them $1,082 in damages to our unit. Our lease termination date was September 25th 2008, we ended up turning in our keys on September 24th (Rent was paid in full for that month). The letter we received is postmarked for November 12th 2008 and was not sent First Class, we provided them with a forwarding address but they addressed the envelope to the unit we lived in at their property. The letter lists our lease end date as September 25th 2008 and our move out date October 1st, thankfully they aren't concocting charges for going over our contract date, but they've listed on the letter some odd charges.
They claim that they had to do excessive cleaning, replace all of the carpet and make some repairs. Some of the odd items listed;
-The master bedroom door closes and locks, but doesn't click shut. We reported this problem to the maintenance manager at the time and we were told it was normal, the apartment settling.
- The tile soapdish wasn't caulked sufficiently in the master bathroom and it became loose and fell but did not break. The maintenance manager spackled(?) where it had been and said he would return within two days to affix the soapdish again, he took it with him and never returned. We are being charged $25.00 to replace the soapdish, I can only assume they are accusing us of taking it.
- We never did a move-in walk through, we were provided a form and told to fill it out then give it back by the end of our move-in day. After turning the form in we noticed that the front door of our unit, which had never been lived in, had some dings on it and had been touched up with off colored paint. We spoke with the assistant property manager and informed her of this, she said that she would make a note of this on that form. According to this letter that is one complaint as well.
- We paid our cable company to have an extra coax outlet installed in the master bedroom as there were none. Maintenance assured us that they would take care of this, after a month we got tired of waiting. In the letter they claim that there should be two outlets present so they tacked it on the list.
- We are being charged to replace the AC filter, though it makes no mention of it being our responsibility in the lease. When we initially moved in they replaced a fuse on the AC, one of about three times, and also put in a new filter. Not sure why we are being charged for another AC filter as it isn't listed as something we are responsible for.
I admit that the carpet was damaged in all but the second bedroom, it was a cheap imitation berber carpet, my wife had the good fortunes of talking with the builder who installed the carpeting and he called it "paper carpet", something that they had to replace quite often as it was cheaply made. According to them it cost $1k to replace the carpeting and pad. We paid a $200 security deposit and $500 for two pets, apparently the pet deposit doesn't cover any damage caused by the pets... although I'm not sure what the purpose of the deposit is then.
I'm more than happy to pay for the damages provided they correctly invoice us for the unit. The above mentioned peculiarities are few of the things I would like straightened out. Having done a little research I see that according to the Uniform Residential Landlord & Tenant Act (2007) that I came across on Alabama HUD's website that if we do not have a deposit returned to us or an itemized bill for damages sent within 35 days by first class mail we are entitled to double our initial deposit. They did not send this letter via FCM and it was not postmarked on the envelope until November 12th, would we be covered by this? (Article 2, Section E)
Additionally, the letter says that the full amount of the damages are due within 10 days of the postmarked date, is there any law stating the full amount has to be paid? In other words, are we legally able to pay them over a period of time? I have every intention of paying what is correctly due within 2-3 months. We were on great terms with the property manager, we never filed complaints, we worked around their maintenance schedule, paid our rent early. They practically begged us to stay, even going so far as to offer us two months of free rent.
Again, not trying to dodge this, I want to pay it off quickly but I want to pay the correct amount.
Thoughts and answers?
Thanks;
Robert
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