I need to call my former landlord today. Got my deposit $ check today, along with an itemized list of deductions.
Some of the line items are fine; I have no problem with a legitimate deduction.
But three of them are bullhonkey.
I need to call him today, which means I need to deal with the fact that 1) I’m not good at striking a balance between doormat and raging bitch i.e. how to stand up for myself effectively, and 2) my voice gets shaky when I’m navigating (1).
I do NOT want my voice to shake while I’m talking to him!
What makes it worse is that he’s a pretty shitty landlord - for starters, the roof leaked in most of the rooms for a YEAR (!) until he finally quit sending roofers over to put up more useless patches and just replaced the damn thing - but he thinks he’s the world’s most wonderfullest and bestest landlord ever, and the attitude is infuriating.
Any advice? Words of wisdom? Consolation? I throw myself at the feet of the collective Dope.
Don’t just call. Write him a letter and date it. This will help you organize your thoughts and it will also help you document things if you can’t quickly resolve this in a satisfactory way.
Make it clear you are willing to be reasonable about some items but won’t be played for a sucker. Be firm, and don’t worry about sounding like a bitch. I’m going through a similar situation right now - I wound up taking my ex-landlord to court successfully and now I’m trying to get the money I am owed.
Unless you can specifically document those instances where your former landlord owes you more of your deposit, deposit the check, don’t contact him/her, and get on with your life.
Speaking from a lot of experience, you have little to no chance of getting any more money back. You have no leverage. A phone call sure won’t do it. You’d have to take him to court, and you’d have to be able to prove that the disputed deductions are “bullhonkey.”
Even if you win in court (which is difficult unless you have some really airtight evidence), that still doesn’t mean you’ll get your money. They can still just blow off the judgement and ignore you.
It’s not worth the fight. Consider yourself lucky you got anything back at all. A lot of them routinely keep every cent of every deposit.
Unless you made documentary photos of the space’s condition when you began leasing you need to go to the kitchen, open the silverware drawer, pick out a fork and stick it in yourself because you are done.
Well, it doesn’t hurt to call! I find it helpful for myself when I have to make a difficult phone call to write down my points beforehand so I don’t miss any.
I also have a tendency to cry when I get upset, which is fucking humiliating. Try not to do this.
a $200 charge for extermination following pet occupancy
OK, when we signed the lease, we agreed to this charge (we have two cats) with the reasonable expectation that the same service would be performed for us, since the previous tenant had a dog. The service was NOT performed before we moved in - in fact, the prev. tenant left the house a filthy mess - and so I am being asked to pay for a service I have never received. That does not sit right with me.
a $125 charge for a photocell automatic light in front of the house
It NEVER worked. It didn’t go on the damage report because we filled out that form during the daytime, and there’s no switch for the light, so it’s not like there was a way to check if it worked. (There is a fully functioning porch light out front.)
a 55 charge for a line item that reads "unclogged bathtub, nothing found"
The smallest charge, true. However, that bathtub drained just fine - I know, I showered our last morning there - plus the water got shut off *while *we were still moving out, so I know the water's not on in that house. So I'm paying a plumber to fix a drain that was never clogged, not to mention this whole "nothing found" crap. (Of course there was nothing to find! The drain wasn't clogged!)
So, give it to me straight. On the one hand, a phone call is free, and any money I get back is more money than I had before, and is tight now. On the other hand … um … ??
Can’t hurt to try. I’d send a letter followed up with a call. That way, you won’t have to get into as much during your call since the landlord will already know your claims.
The landlord may want to settle just to be done with it.
I like the idea of sending a letter first. Thanks.
The one that really sticks in my gullet is the damn pet-extermination thing. I’m paying for a service I never received. I just can’t wrap my head around that.
In Texas, you don’t have any chance unless you have rock-solid documentation.
If you are doing it for your peace of mind, then certainly- but don’t go into it with any expectation of settlement unless you want to be disappointed.
I never received a deposit back in Texas, but it didn’t matter much, as the deposit specials meant I never paid more than $100. It was pretty much just taken as accepted that it was a ‘move-in’ fee unless you were renting from one of the industrial Live-O-Mats.
I assume you mean extermination of fleas and not the pets.
The problem is you agreed to that charge by your own admission. How were you harmed by the fact you never received the service when you moved in? You might say, well, you found fleas. The landlord will ask you to prove the fleas were leftover fleas and not fleas from your own pets. I’m thinking this issue is the weakest of the bunch.
To be honest, that one sounds legit to me. You are paying the fee following pet occupancy. You admit to having a pet and you agreed to it, so I don’t see the issue.
The issue that you never received that service when you moved in is legitimate, but you should have complained at that time.
I’m not sure what state you live in, purplehorseshoe, but I’d look for info on landlord-tenant court or small claims court. That’s how I dealt with my situation and it was fairly easy to handle.
I kinda figured I’d get such a pessimistic response.
To be honest, it might make the conversation with him easier - so much simpler to keep one’s voice smooth and calm when the outcome seems futile anyway. If I was fighting for money I was really owed, I’d probably wind up getting pissed.
And yes, I know Texas has almost no legal resources for tenants. My last landlord declared bankruptcy during the 30-day window when he’s supposed to return my deposit, thus screwing me out of every last penny. Bastard.
When I was in college in my first apartment ever, my landlord tried to screw us out of our security deposit. We took her to small claims court, won, and collected. So it can be done.
Having said that, I’m not sanguine about your chances of success.
-Whether or not you insisted on having the extermination before you moved in, you agreed to pay for it to be performed when you left. These are clearly separable. The fact that you did not receive the benefit of one, does not lessen your liability for the other.
-Re: the light, shows the importance of conducting a thorough inspection, and amending it as necessary. I think you missed the boat on this one. SHould have sent a letter shortly after moving in.
-unclogging tub, this is the only one on which I think you have a good chance. In our situation, my roomate’s mom had cleaned out our oven, and the first thing the landord did on moving day was spray some cleaner in the oven without looking to see if it needed it. We collected on her BS charge. I believe most leases provide for “necessary” maintenance and repair.
So how much hassle are you willing to go through for $55? Probably worth a phone call, but not much more.
You can try a phone call to the landlord, but don’t expect to get any money back. None of the charges comes across as egregiously outlandish. Be prepared to take this to small claims court, but most likely you may only get back a few bucks that will not be worth the effort.
I say go for it if you want to invest the time. However, be prepared to cave on issue #1, maybe as part of a settlement, but you might press harder on issues #2 & #3.
