Security deposit question - overcharging

[notapushover]

I am currently living in Virginia, but moved here from Colorado, which is where this current problems originated.

Here's the situation: Our Colorado landlord moved into our vacated townhouse after we left. She's trying to screw us on our security deposit. There are a few reasons for this but at this point they are not relevant to my current question and they have nothing to do with our tenancy. We were always on-time with our rent and she never had any problems with us until immediately before leaving. I'm assuming part of it was because we were moving out of state and she figured we wouldn't do anything about it.

In our lease it states she had 60 days to get us the remainder of our security deposit minus and charges. I received an itemized list on day 59. Fine, whatever. Out of our $1050 deposit, she gave us $233 back. There were some very questionable charges. The 2 charges I'm disupting are 1) a $315 charge for housecleaning and 2) a $105 charge for 3 days rent that she could not move into the townhouse because of carpet cleaning.
I'm disputing the first charge (the cleaning charge) because I had not 1, but 2 professional cleaning companies do a move out clean on the townhouse. I only have a receipt for the 2nd cleaning because the first cleaning occured after we left the state and she did a shoddy job (my neighbor checked the work after we they finished). The woman told me she would clean it again but basically, she waited until the check cleared the refused to return my calls. I was forced to call another cleaning company to go in and redo the cleaning. My neighbor again checked the work, said it looked great. The appliances were cleaned, the floors mopped, the bathrooms cleaned, etc.
I'm disputing the 2nd charge (the rent for 3 days of carpet cleaning) because I moved out on Aug.10 and she moved in the beginning of September and she charged me for 3 days of rent in Sept..
I knew my first step was to send a day demand letter about the disputed charges. I got her response today. She sent me back the $105 rental excess fee and a letter saying that she and her boyfriend did the cleaning because she felt it wasn't clean enough and she charged us 9 hours cleaning (that she and said boyfriend performed) at $35/hour. Now, both of my professional cleaners charged me a flat rate for the move out clean and combined both charges were less than the $315 she's charging me. My question is, can a landlord, (who then becomes the tenant of said property) charge me for work they performed themselves? Oh, in this letter, she sent me copies of the cleaning company that did the cleaning one month BEFORE I moved in. I'm not sure what the relevance of that reciept is on my tenancy or the current cleaning issue. The point is, she did not have a professional cleaning company do the cleaning so she does not have a receipt.
I suppose I'm asking if I should persue this matter. I know I can sue for treble damages, so I could sue for the $315x3 ($965 total) plus any court costs.

 

[ecmst12]

I do not think you will get triple damages, but you do NOT owe any rent after you vacated and you can prove the house was cleaned with your reciept and witness.

 

[FarmerJ]

I imagine if your going to fight this you would have to arrange to travel back to CO to be present for court , the other thing is just the filing it self, I suggest you consult with a Real estate atty in CO to atleast learn if it is possible to hire them only to do the filing as long as you would represent self in court. I dont see a court granting you any thing over and above the disputed amount and the penalty so you would have to bear what ever the cost is to travel back there too, Instead I would suggest to you once you speak to a atty to learn if you can hire them to file your small claim for you so you can travel back for court if you learn this can be done then to send the LL one more letter via certified or confirmed mail including a copy of the cleaning firms receipt and tell her point blank you have no problem arranging and dealing with the travel to sue her in small claims court and ask the court to require her to prove her claim that the unit was dirty risking that the court might also award to you a penalty because she didnt act fairly if they agree with you or she could just refund the money held back for cleaning and save her self risking the court would agree with you . Even if you learn that small claims court wont allow you to have a atty file it for you it still would be worth sending the letter anyway since she might just think about it and decide she doesnt want to chance losing more than the cleaning amount.

 

[Searchertwin]

You need to check with VA LL laws on the return of deposit time frame and if LL can do cleaning and repairs themselves. I never heard of 60 days, normally it is 30. This would be the only thing that you could win in court. But lets look at other things if Va lets LL do the work. The cost of cleaning was $315.00..how bad did you leave the place? What is clean to you is not clean to me. Did you clean behind the stove? Did you clean the stove exhaust fan? Did you take the dust balls off the back of the ref? Did you clean the floor radiators and remove stuff that might have swept in? Did you remove the light fixtures and clean them? Need I go on? So nine hours is nothing to clean a house. You said you hired a company to clean..do you know if they did all that? This is where a pre- inspection list comes in to show what is clean prior to moving in and what needs to be done at end of lease.

It doesn't matter how much a company charges for services even for same services. Like buying a can of soda at one grocery store and buy the exact same soda at another store but it was much higher.

You double talk here, you stated, " I'm not sure what the relevance of that reciept is on my tenancy or the current cleaning issue. The point is, she did not have a professional cleaning company do the cleaning so she does not have a receipt." Did she or did she not have a receipt? The only reason if there was a receipt, regardless if it was a professional co or they clean it, shows it was clean to their satisfaction and expect the house to return in that same condition. This is where pictures comes in handy.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

This took place in Colorado which does allow up to 60 days to return information regarding the security deposit if this is stipulated in the lease:

Colorado Security Deposits

Gail