My wife and I just received a certified letter from our previous landlord. We expected it to be the deposit returned to us, instead was a bill for $3200.00. We rented from what we thought was a "sweet little old lady", she was excited to have us, said she would do a lot of repairs. We left after 2 and a half years. We had a basic lease, and no wriitten agreement for the repairs. We didn't see or hear from her the entire time. Now we are being billed. We thought we were not disturbing her, and I did a lot of the maintenance. What should we do?

What were the terms of the lease at the time you moved out?

What type of damage, normal wear and tear you are not responsible for, damage you did yes. Did you get photos going in, to prove the condition of the home or have it in writing that this or that was not OK.
Did you do a walk though with her at the end and have her sign off what was wrong

Did she give you an itemized bill of what she was charging you for specifically?
She can not just make up some random amount and try getting it out of you!
Then normal wear and tear would have to be taken into consideration.
I doubt she can charge you for 'disturbing' her either.
If she pushes it make an itemized list of the repairs you did and find any receipts you might still have.
And request that she does the same.
Then let her take you to court

Can I find exactly how many evictions a person has wibesite wanted

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Originally Posted by dana davis

Can i find exactly how many evictions a person has wibesite wanted

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>??

Our downfall is no proof or paperwork. The bill was itemized. Everything from wiping out cabinets, wiping windows, replacing shower tile, to broken knob this and that. The shower is a single person, standing shower that wasn't in good shape to start. She states water damage... it looks like when we moved in, it was my wife's bane. She spent hours scrubbing it, to no avail. The kitchen floor is a 6x8 area that had the original linoleum(20yrs). It looked bad to start, certainly not better when we left, but not due to poor behavior. She says that there was trash everywhere on the property. We rented an extra month, to only clean and take our time moving, so to do it well. There was no trash anywhere when we left and the place was scrubbed. I guess this is the most enraging thing. That we actually did take the time to do right by her, even though we never heard from her. In the beginning she said she would fix the roof, the deck, the chimney, have it swept regularly, fix the driveway, the garden fence, and change the water filter when necessary. We actually talked to her twice the entire time. She had piles of old building materials all over the property, after seven months of asking for removal, we had to take care of it. And when the well pump went out, instead of calling her in the middle of the night, I fixed it. Hindsight does suck. We have no proof. We rented the place for a month before we were married, didn't live there until we were. We had other things on our minds than evidence on this "sweet" lady. And then finding our dream home, taking an extra month to do things right, didn't see this coming. We sent her a letter only stating that we had expected our deposit, and aren't responsible.

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Originally Posted by pdoubleu

We sent her a letter only stating that we had expected our deposit, and aren't responsible.

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I hear very similar stories from lots of my new tenants, especially when their previous landlord was an elderly person. I think they still see the property in their mind's eye like it was 30 years ago when they bought it, or used to live in it themselves, etc. That doesn't excuse their actions... I guess I just wanted to tell you that you're not alone.

I think your letter to her was a good start. Out of curiousity, did she send the itemized bill within the proper time frame that she had to return the deposit? If not, that would be one angle you could go after.

I would just write out an accounting, basically of what you told us. If she wants to go tit for tat, give it to her. Figure out fair charges for all of the stuff you did around there that really should have been her responsibilities. Then present her a demand for your security deposit, along with a bill.

My guess is that you'll be at an impass, with her just holding your security deposit, until one of you pulls the trigger and files a small claims case against the other. Would you have a case, without any photos or other proof? It's a toss-up. You definitely sound well organized and professional. Do you have any witnesses? If she's a "sweet little old lady" she may get sympathy points for that... there's just no telling.