My fiancé and I recently moved out of an apartment in Oregon. It was a very pleasant place to live, well-maintained, and well-managed for our entire stay. We were very happy with the management company... until we moved to Ohio and received our move-out summary in the mail. Some background information will help to clarify the entire issue here... and I apologize in advance for the long story.

We moved into the apartment 18 months ago. Before our move-in date, we conducted a walk-through inspection and noted the carpet was totally trashed. As a condition for signing the lease, we requested replacement of the carpet throughout the entire apartment. The management company responded in the correct manner and replaced the carpet. So, the carpet was brand new when we moved in.

During our stay, we took exceptionally good care of the unit. Our downstairs neighbor, also an on-site manager, repeatedly expressed how impressed he was with how clean we kept the unit. We especially took excellent care of the carpet... until my fiancé decided to use some clear duct tape to hold some speaker wire to the floor. Needless to say, I was extremely unhappy with this. I tried everything I could think of to get the adhesive residue out of the carpet, but it never came out. I was worried that we would have to replace the carpet in that room, but I figured that would be fair.

Before we turned in our keys two months ago, the aforementioned neighbor/manager conducted a walk-through inspection of the unit. He did not fill out any paperwork, but he was a friend of ours, and the inspection was conducted in good faith that it would indeed serve as an official inspection. He said the entire unit looked great and that we had no worries, so we made no further attempts to clean the small strip of carpet showing a slight hint of adhesive residue. Had he expressed concern, we would have done whatever was necessary to remove the stain. Expecting a return of our deposit, we took off across the country.

Thirty days later, we received a move-out summary showing a $1000 charge for carpet replacement. They were charging us to replace the carpet throughout the entire unit! Of course, we have no problem paying for carpet in the one room in which the carpet was damaged. It was not malicious damage, but we are honest people. If you damage something, you pay for it. In fact, I think they were right to replace carpet in that entire room... not just a patch. (A patch would look ridiculous.) The carpet in every other room throughout the unit, however, was in perfect condition when we moved out. There was no need to replace it. It was a two-bedroom apartment with a living/dining room comprising about 40% of the carpeted area in the unit. The carpet was spliced at all doorways when we moved in, so it's not like the entire unit was a continuous piece of carpet. In short, we will gladly pay for the carpet we damaged, but a small strip of residue in one room does not warrant new carpet for an entire two-bedroom apartment. Unless their carpet guy really sucks at what he does or unless they had a two-year-old laying carpet, it is possible to avoid unsightly seams between rooms. Amateur carpet layers do this successfully on a routine basis.

I wrote a polite but firm letter to the management company clearly outlining our dispute and graciously offered a more-than-acceptable alternative. We offered to pay for carpet installation in the living/dining area but informed them that we will not pay for the other rooms in the unit. Their inadequate response to our letter stated that only one room had damaged carpet, but they had no choice other than to re-carpet the entire unit. Of course, this jump in logic does not serve as a real explanation for these excessive charges. In addition, the management company refuses to acknowledge that our "friend," the on-site manager, conducted a final inspection. Now we are considering taking action in small claims court. We were perfect tenants and do not deserve this sort of treatment. I am disappointed, as our relationship with the management company was very good until after our move.

I suspect the management company is behaving in this manner because they erroneously assume our moving across the country poses a financial and/or logistical obstacle to our taking action. Quite to the contrary, I will gladly spend the money to travel across the country (2500 miles) to deal with them in small claims court. I would rather put my money to work teaching them a valuable lesson about taking advantage of young couples than simply pay these excessive charges and condone this type of behavior. When it comes down to it, this is nothing more than attempted theft on their part. I understand the economy is sub-optimal right now, but if they need extra money that badly, they should consider increased rent... or take out a business loan.

Does anyone have experience with a similar situation and have useful advice? Please note: This is not a question of whether I am right or not. It is a question of whether the law is correct by preventing landlords from ripping people off in this manner. So, does anyone have experience with taking legal action in a situation like this? If so, what course of action did you take? Did the landlord-tenant laws prevent the correct decision from being made in small claims court, etc.

Thank you for your time and helpful insights. The basic Oregon landlord-tenant laws do not address this particular issue, nor do they address any similar circumstances. I am looking for precedents in Oregon and other states.

Your option will be to refuse to pay and fight them in court over this, but this is one of those issues, most likely the court will be in Oregon. And to be honest they know it.

Have you contacted your friend manager and get him to give you a letter in writing of what he saw in inspection.

Have you asked for a in detailed report including the report from the carpet people.

But in the end if you can not work out a deal with them, they can sue and you will have to travel back to defend yourself

Thank you for taking the time to read this and respond, chuck.

Yes, sorry I wish I could say there was some real great way, if you lived in the next town over, but often in many cases it is cheaper to pay than to fight, Not right, not far, but just the way the system works.

I would have helped some to have had photos of the old. But unless they provide you an actual bill for carpet and labor, then the billing is also not payable. So you have a right to require them to provide you with a copy of the actual repair bill

Had a complex I moved out of charge ME for their light pole that their maintenance man could not fix and blamed it on me for wrecking it! The repairman was an amateur and repared the light pole incorrectly and it worked for all of 5 minutes before shorting out and because I wanted the light pole on at night to deter crime - I was the one who was charged for the repair after I moved out! They also piled on more things that I supposedly broke in the apt that was never broken when I moved out. Yes, landlords of complexes pull all kinds of games on tenants who move out. Been there, done that.

Best way to prevent such happenings in the future is to take either video or still pictures before you move in to the apt and video or still pictures after you move out to prove what was wrong with apt before and after so they can't pull this on you again. Friends with management don't mean diddly. If anything they are your "friends" until you move and then bam - back to being an employee. Don't trust them any further than you can throw them.

Documentation is the key in this type of thing.
In all legal issues really. Pictures lots of them. Written snail mail letters. Video.