All Forum Posts by: Jeff A.

We just received a notice from the apartment manager we moved out of that they are going to charge $900 against our secrutiy deposit because of a damaged front door, cleaning, and some other minor stuff. He says that we caused the front door to be damaged and he is going to replace the door for almost 700 bucks.Totally rediculous.
We didn't cause the damage but he is blaming us.
Can we fight this? We don't have money for a lawyer, is there anything we can do. This is not fair.
Any help would be apprciated.

Hi
We are renting a 2 bedroom apartment in an apartment complex and we are having some trouble with the manager.Our front door is lose it locks but if it is not locked it sometimes just opens by itself.
There is a deadbolt but we forget to set it. When we reported that it was opening by itself the manager sent a repairman over to look at it.
The repairman said it looked like the door was 'kicked or forced in' and thats why the door frame is damaged.
It does look damaged but we didn't force it and there has never been any breakin or robbery.It has been getting worse and worse for months but we never reported it until it started opening so now the manager thinks it just just happened.
The door repairman set it should be replaced but the manager looked at it and said not now. He told the repair guy to put in bigger screws to hold it. It works but is still a bit lose but doesn't open anymore.
But now he seems to be blaming us for the damage. He said we should have insurance for this kind of thing and the repair done is only a temporary fix.
We did sign a checkin sheet when we moved in but we didn't notice any problem with the door at the time and it appears the landlord is going to use that as an excuse to charge us for the damage. If he replaces the door and frame and adds the cleaning charge in the lease its going to probably exceed our security deposit.
Our lease ends shortly and we already got a letter saying he isnt going to renew so we have to leave. We have had some late rent payments but we are up to date.
We do not have alot of money and do not want to pay for
a door to be replaced especially when we didn't do anything.
Is there anything we can do to stop this. We don't think it is fair to blame us for something we didn't do.

Any ideas are welcome