I recently moved out of an apartment, did the walk through with a leasing agent, she told me everything was ok'd, now I get a call from a collection agency for $522.00 so they can replace the carpet. I heard nothing about it until the man from collections called me. I was never given a copy of the walk through paper. Is there any action I can take or do I just have to pay the money?

You should always get a copy of the walkthrough paperwork. I know, you don't need to know that now, you needed to know it then. Your responsibilities as far as the carpet being replaced really depend on how long you lived in the apartment. If you lived there longer than two years, it's the owner's responsibility to replace not yours. If less time, then they've likely got you over a barrel. You should ask the leasing agent for a copy of the walkthrough paperwork. It's quite possible that it's been altered by now if it was all "ok" at the time, then they decided the carpet needed replacing later. If there are changes to it, how strong your position is will depend on how obvious the changes are. You do have rights to see that paper, as you also have rights to see a bill for the exact charges they are trying to collect from you.

Good luck!

Tell the collections company that you went through a walk through with the leasing agent and nothing was said about the carpet. So as far as your concerned you are clear.

Did you get your security deposit back? How much was your deposit?

No, deny you owe the claim, if still within a 30 day time frame tell them to show prooff of the debt.

Write a letter to the collection agency that tells you where were cleared by name of agent on certain date.

And verbal clearance is not part of the lease, merely acknowledgement of it being OK, while it should have been in writing, you can hold them to it, if you go to court.

Or to stop them from going after you. pay the rental agency, and then sue them, naming their agent as your witness.

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lboschert02 disagrees: I did tell them, they said verbal agreements are useless in a lease, the agent said and did totally opposite things. I guess I'm screwed.

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You didn't indicate what you did or didn't do so my advice was valid. If it wasn't helpful it was only because you didn't provide enough info.

As to what they said about verbal agreements being useless, of course they are going to say that! Do you set the fox to guard the henhouse? That's why you come to a site like this, to get impartial advice.

Verbal agreements are NOT useless and this has nothing to do with the lease. Of course YOU made the mistake of not getting a signature on the walk through.

And you didn't answer my question about the security.

If you want help at a site like this, you need to provide full info and not put donw the help you get if its at all valid.

Hello Ib:

"i did tell them, they said verbal agreements are useless in a lease, the agent said and did totally opposite things. i guess i'm screwed."

There are two kinds of people in the world, (1) those who get screwed, and (2) those who don't. Those who get screwed, seem to continually get screwed - while those who don't - don't. I don't think that's an accident. I think the people who always get screwed do something different than those who don't get screwed.

Just for starters, I'll bet the people who don't get screwed, don't think they'll get screwed, but just in case, they have file cabinets where they keep ALL their important documents - and they keep adding to it.

The people who get screwed, don't do a whole lot of stuff to prevent it from happening, because they think, "i guess i'm screwed".

excon

What is in your original lease? Does it state that tenants are responsible for carpet replacement? Was new carpet placed in your apartment before you moved in? I am trying to see if the landlord replaces the carpet each time someone new moves in.

I agree with the others - you should never have left yourself open to be taken advantage of here. Always, always keep papers, leases, tenant handbook, walk-thoughs, cleaning sheets, etc. pertianing to your apartment in a folder. If anything, you learned that.

Hope you fight this. Don't take the defenseless attitude.