tentant help?

Question

I was living in an apartment in Oklahoma city recently with my boyfriend until he got deployed to South America. We had a month left to go on our lease but we didn't feel like trying to get out of paying for it so we paid that month's rent and moved out at the beginning of the month and gave proper notice. Since we didn't have much time to get out of the apartment (I was going to live with family until he got back) we left it kind of messy. Now they are trying to make us pay over $1100 for carpet replacement and for garbage disposal. My boyfriend says that he will be able to get a loan for the money but not until he gets back to the states in January. Since we are not married, they are trying to pin all of this on me. Is there any way that we can postpone paying this money legally until he gets back.

Our deposit was $300 plus a $200 pet deposit. We left a bookshelf and a couch and a chair and we only lived there for 6 months. The rent was only $500/month. We didn't clean much after we but the place wasn't trashed. We just didn't do things like mop or vacuum.

And they put the $500 towards the original cost. So the amount was originally to $1500.

Answer 1

It sounds as if "kind of messy" included some very bad stains (or pet accidents) or burns in the carpet and a lot of furniture and personal effects left in the apartment.

If you did not permanently damage the carpet, and if you didn't leave a lot of furniture in the apartment, the management company is abusing you. They might get away with charging you a $200 cleaning fee, but you shouldn't put up with having to pay for new carpet if you didn't damage and stain it permanently.

If you just left the place dirty but not damaged and full of stuff, you need to pay a lawyer to defend you in this issue. It will certainly cost less than the $1100 they want to charge you.

However, if you really did damage the carpet and leave the place with a bunch of junk in it that required hauling and a dump fee, you should sit down with them and ask them if you can work out a payment plan with them they'll probably go for it. Some money each month is better than no money whatsoever.

What you don't want to do is ignore this and hope it goes away. They can press charges against you and then ruin your credit rating for future rentals and purchases.

BTW, I own rental property. My tenants lose their one-month deposit if they leave the house filthy or the garage is full of stuff and I have to pay someone to haul it away. If they damage walls or mess up the carpet so badly I can't clean it, they must pony up with the money to make it rentable to another person or I send my lawyer after them with a lawsuit that will cost a lot more than replacing carpet or drywall.

Answer 2

At the expense of $1100 it sounds like you left it in more than a "kinda messy" condition. How much was your security deposit? Did they charge you the $1100 on top of your security Deposit, or will your security deposit cover the $1100 charge?

I guess I'd need more information as to what your monthly rent was and how much was your security deposit.

Bottom line is you'd need to call the onsite manager and work out payment schedule with them, failure to do so will ruin your credit as they will turn this money over to a collection agency to collect. You'll also need to find out if this is in addition to using your security deposit. If they are writing to tell you that they are charging you $1100.00 for new carpet (which they cannot do they can only charge you a pro-rated amount for the time you lived there since obviously other people lived there prior and wore the carpet out also) and for garbage removal and your security deposit is $1100.00 then basically they are telling you that you will not be receiving a refund of your deposit because they applied it to the damage you did.

You need to make sure that this is what they are doing. Also I'd fight the carpet charge and tell them that you should only be prorated for the time you were there, I mean seriously, how much damage could you have done to a carpet in a year? Was it brand new when you moved in or was it already in need of replacing? but I'd go in and sit down with the manager and work this out, you might be able to get some money knocked off or they might not be requiring any additional monies from you. In order to work out a pro-rated cost for the carpet, usually carpets have a 5 year life span in an apartment, if you lived there only 1 year and others lived in the apartment prior to you then you'd be expected to pay out the remaining life on the carpet. ie cost to purchase is $700 /5 years = $140.00 if the carpet had 2 years left then you'd owe for the two years. If you were the first and it needed replacing after 1 year then you'd owe for the entire replacement cost. If the carpet was at the end of it's life then I'd fight it or offer to pay only for the year you were there.

Need more info if possible.

Answer 3

No. Since you are not married, you yourself qualify under no exclusions or protections afforded to military personnel. Beyond that, I do not know of any military protections which protect you against leaving a messy apartment, and the resulting clean up bills from same.

You can ASK the management firm if they would consider such a delay in repayment for the damages, and they MIGHT agree, if they get a letter from the boyfriend stating his intentions. But legally, they are in control here.