Fighting to get deposit back

[Fallon S.]

Hi everyone.
My husband and I are fighting with our rental company to get more of our deposit back than they are trying to give us.

1) We had to BEGthem for a walk through list 2 weeks after our walk through.

2) They claim they don't know anything about carpet depreciation.

3) We were not allowed back into the home to clean things they claim were not cleaned. (But want to butter us up by saying "Oh we will go ahead and pay to have it cleaned"

4) They are charging us over $700 for dents in the garage door from Christmas bells.

5) The landlords have returned to the house since we moved out and before we got the deposit back and they are trying to charge us $100 for a broken drawer in the fridge that was NOT on the final walk through form (that we begged for).

6) They are charging us almost $300 for some sprinkler hosing that was busted in the yard that we reported after we first moved in. They apparently never documented it (and we didn't either, our fault). It was black tubing, above ground, that sat unused for over a year and a half and was weedeated over and cracked. So apparently, we are in charge of paying full price for some 10 year old tubing.

I am mostly wondering if anyone knows the depreciation schedule of a garage door (if there is one).

Also, are they allowed to give us quotes at the 21 days mark or does it actually have to be receipts for work done.

I am new at this whole renting business and don't want to get screwed over. But this company doesn't have their act together either, claiming they've "never heard of and never given walk through forms before at the end of a tenants stay"...

Just looking for some insight. I will provide any more information if needed. Thanks.

-Fallon

[Account Closed]

Dents in a garage can be a pretty serious thing especially if they have to replace that door, and I didn't see where you denied causing that damage.

As far as the things you state you told the rental company about when you moved in. You should have documented them, because even if you were to go to court now it would be your word against theirs.

Here are a few things I would suggest when renting a place.

• Fill out a walk through form; if they don’t provide one make your own.
• Once filled out sign it and have it notarized (this will help validate the time frame in which you filled out the form from the date you moved in.)
• Make two copies and do two things 1) take one to the management company and hand it to them, and 2) send a copy certified mail and once the return slip comes back file it with your original walk through form (this proves someone in that office signed for that letter).
• Take pictures of any problems in the rental, with date and timestamp. Do this when you move in and when you move out.
• And of course when they do give you the final walk through form of theirs compare it and keep it on file. Make your disputes if it doesn’t work small claims court is always there and you have a nice file to show the judge.
• And clean some people don’t read their rental agreement thoroughly and will miss things like the fact that you will get charged X amount of dollars for every trash bag that is used and that amount can be expensive I’ve seen them be as much as $100.00 a trash bag, or that no matter what your going to be charged a redecorating fee even if you do clean.

Some people will tell you that some of these things are overkill; I think it is just smart business. Just like my job is to make money on my rentals, it should be yours to protect yourself from unscrupulous people.