I moved into an apartment in 11/2004 and paid a $600.00 deposit. I gave my 30day notice and moved out on 01/06. No one was available to do a walk through with me due to the holiday weekend. I am now getting a letter in the mail that I owe 300.00 and they are keeping my deposit. I tried to talk to the company to get a better understanding of the statement with no luck the people I spoke with were rude. They are charging me for new carpet and for cleaning of the carpet. The carpet was to have 5 years on it but I was only there for a year. There were stains in the smaller bedroom in the corner, but they are using that as a reason to replace the carpet in the whole house. Is that legal?

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Originally Posted by laneta

i moved into an apartment in 11/2004 and paid a $600.00 deposit. i gave my 30day notice and moved out on 01/06. no one was available to do a walk through with me due to the holiday weekend. i am now getting a letter in the mail that i owe 300.00 and they are keeping my deposit. I tried to talk to the company to get a better understanding of the statement with no luck the people i spoke with were rude. They are charging me for new carpet and for cleaning of the carpet. the carpet was to have 5 years on it but i was only there for a year. there were stains in the smaller bedroom in the corner, but they are using that as a reason to replace the carpet in the whole house. is that legal?

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Of course you should have came back after the holiday and did a walk though with them on a date that was preset at the time you gave notice.

If not you should have taken dated photos showing the condition of the apartment ( this should have been done before you moved in and after you moved out to show any usage and wear.

It sounds like they tried to clean the carpet and when it did not clean decided to replace it. ( thus a charge for both cleaning and replacing)
They are required to give you a detailed bill of the expenses that you are being charged for.

As someone that rents houses, I do know my side of what I find and what they say happened to the house are normally no where close, so I can only say from experience. At this time, they have your deposit, and say you owe a certain amount. They can turn it over to collections and have it placed on your credit report and even sue you over it. You in turn can sue them for your deposit if you have proof it was OK.

So telling you what you should have done when you moved out does not help, but that is where it needed to be different. Now if a court of law what can you prove, not what you say, but what can you show.

I don't know what state you live in, but in Ohio they have to give a detailed list of their expenses to the rental. They just can't send a bill and say we are keeping your deposit. All else fails, try small claims court to get you money back.