Dumb
21st August 2011, 04:53
Last year, I signed a 12-month lease running from September 2010 through August 2011. Well, my current job in Honduras started this month, so I left a month early.
Today, three weeks after I moved out, my family gets the bill from the apartment complex (my parents had me use their address as my "permanent address"): $800 for "liquidating damages" (from losing rent money that I would have paid for August), $500 for a discount I was given for signing the 12-month lease, $150 for a "full clean," and $150 for shampooing the carpets (minus $300 deposit, which was deducted from the bill, thus making it add up to ~$1,300).
A: Apartment management told me they needed 30 days notice. I gave them 30 days notice.
B: It's illegal in California to charge for automatically shampooing the carpets; I vacuumed the entire floor, every nook and cranny, three times and there wasn't a single spot or speck.
C: Apartment management cites dirty stoves, dirty oven, stains in bathtub, dirty toilet, and traffic wear on carpet. I cleaned the toilet twice to make sure it was spotless; I spent parts of three days on the bathtub, and all that was left behind was a set of stains from age, which management's own paperwork lists under normal wear and tear; the stoves were spotless; and traffic wear on the carpet not only is considered normal wear and tear (am I not expected to walk in this apartment?), but was listed by the manager on his move-in inspection sheet before I moved in. They got me on the oven, which I used twice in my ten months there; for this, they charge me the maximum.
D: None of this was shown to me in advance, let alone in writing. In fact, the bill my family received - three weeks after I moved out - is the first that they've communicated to us, and they've already sent this to a collection agency.
E: I worked for two years as a janitor (in fact, doing a fair number of move-out inspections and cleanup myself), so yeah...I know what I'm doing. Plus, at the three other apartments I've lived in previously, I always got back at least half my deposit (and once got the whole thing back).
My gut reaction is to say that I'm on the hook for the $500 from the promotion, which I was told I'd have to pay back if I left early (no surprise there).
Other than that, though, what does anybody else think? Does anybody happen to know much about California tenancy law? So far, I myself have not participated in any interaction with the apartment complex since I moved out in July, and I have not interacted with any collections agency either.
PS I realize that it's somewhat classless of me to storm out the way I did, and then come back only when I need you guys for something. The fact is, I don't know of anywhere else I could turn for advice on the matter. I can't afford these fees.
Today, three weeks after I moved out, my family gets the bill from the apartment complex (my parents had me use their address as my "permanent address"): $800 for "liquidating damages" (from losing rent money that I would have paid for August), $500 for a discount I was given for signing the 12-month lease, $150 for a "full clean," and $150 for shampooing the carpets (minus $300 deposit, which was deducted from the bill, thus making it add up to ~$1,300).
A: Apartment management told me they needed 30 days notice. I gave them 30 days notice.
B: It's illegal in California to charge for automatically shampooing the carpets; I vacuumed the entire floor, every nook and cranny, three times and there wasn't a single spot or speck.
C: Apartment management cites dirty stoves, dirty oven, stains in bathtub, dirty toilet, and traffic wear on carpet. I cleaned the toilet twice to make sure it was spotless; I spent parts of three days on the bathtub, and all that was left behind was a set of stains from age, which management's own paperwork lists under normal wear and tear; the stoves were spotless; and traffic wear on the carpet not only is considered normal wear and tear (am I not expected to walk in this apartment?), but was listed by the manager on his move-in inspection sheet before I moved in. They got me on the oven, which I used twice in my ten months there; for this, they charge me the maximum.
D: None of this was shown to me in advance, let alone in writing. In fact, the bill my family received - three weeks after I moved out - is the first that they've communicated to us, and they've already sent this to a collection agency.
E: I worked for two years as a janitor (in fact, doing a fair number of move-out inspections and cleanup myself), so yeah...I know what I'm doing. Plus, at the three other apartments I've lived in previously, I always got back at least half my deposit (and once got the whole thing back).
My gut reaction is to say that I'm on the hook for the $500 from the promotion, which I was told I'd have to pay back if I left early (no surprise there).
Other than that, though, what does anybody else think? Does anybody happen to know much about California tenancy law? So far, I myself have not participated in any interaction with the apartment complex since I moved out in July, and I have not interacted with any collections agency either.
PS I realize that it's somewhat classless of me to storm out the way I did, and then come back only when I need you guys for something. The fact is, I don't know of anywhere else I could turn for advice on the matter. I can't afford these fees.