Thank you all for the information. I would rather scare her (legally, not via intimidation or blackmail) into paying me by telling her that if we go to small claims court, I will win the case. Potential extra damages coming into play sounds like a really nice way to do that.
She is mad because I didn’t have a plastic mat under my computer chair the whole time I was there. The reason is because the carpet is a really deep, thick pile and it BROKE my chair mat (which I’d been using on a shorter carpet pile for a long time before that with no significant signs of wear). I couldn’t afford to buy another one and it would have just broken again anyway. And I spend the majority of my time on the computer so the carpet there is worn down.
1. Did you have a signed lease or rental agreement with this woman?
Yes, I can link the text of it via PM if that would help you. It was a 6 month agreement (more on that in my answer to #2)
** 2. How much notice did you give her that you were leaving?**
We had originally agreed upon a 30 day notice to break the lease in either direction after the first 6 months were up (whether it was her wanting me out or me wanting to go). It was set to expire on April 30th. We had originally agreed on a 6 month lease and I moved in on October 1, so the move out date should have been April 1–she made a miscalculation when she authored the lease document, and I didn’t catch it. I was going by the move-out date provided on the lease paperwork, and looking for places starting May 1. She tried to give me 30 days notice on March 1 and I pointed out that the move-out date on the lease was actually 60 days from March 1 (I hadn’t counted the days until she pointed out it was accidentally 7 months–and SHE drew up the paperwork that I signed, so it was her mistake). I told her I was planning to move out at the END of April, not the beginning, per the date on the lease. She wrote me back a nasty email saying she expected me out by April 1 regardless, so I asked her if we could just mutually agree to break the lease ASAP. She agreed, I agreed, and we both wanted out pretty bad at this point. I did a rush job via craigslist and found a place and moved within 3 days. (I have an email trail for all of this, that she agreed to let me go early and I agreed to go early.) There was no clause in the lease for early termination.
** 3. How bad is the carpet? What did it look like when you moved in? Do you have pictures? **
I don’t have pictures. I didn’t take pictures because I only had three day to orchestrate finding a place and then moving. I didn’t have any help, did everything by myself. And I don’t have a camera. It didn’t occur to me that she’d be busting my balls this hard. My bad…
** 4. Did you leave the rest of the space clean, etc?**
It was absolutely pristine. I never spilled anything on the carpet so all I had to do was go over it with a fine-toothed vacuum (I lint-rolled the floor first too, just to make sure I didn’t get hair in the vacuum). The walls look exactly as they did when I moved in–I never put up any posters or nails, no scuff marks, and my stuff didn’t leave any dings. I did not leave a single speck of my property or trash behind, and there was NOTHING dirty about the room. But again I don’t have pictures to prove this. My bad there.
I do have the phone number of the other roommate who lives there. I might be able to ask him to take a picture of the room, but I am not sure if he even has a camera. Plus, he was always nice to both me and the landlord so I don’t want to make him choose a side, as it were.
The house was purchased brand-new in September of 2010 so the carpet was pretty much brand new when I moved in. It’s a very soft, extraordinarily high pile. It definitely has furniture dents in it from my stuff. Part of my argument is that anyone living in that room would have furniture regardless, so I shouldn’t be held responsible. The damage is seriously just normal wear and tear. It’s in pristinely clean condition.