<p>Okay, so I have nobody else to ask, and am hoping some parents here will be able to help.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Our landlords are absolutely awful. When we moved in the apartment was absolutely disgusting, like its never been cleaned. It took me 8 straight hours to clean, I took before and after pictures.</p></li>
<li><p>We’re getting worried about them actually giving our security deposit back. There was a decent amount of grime (have pictures) here before we arrived, and a few broken things and garbage around the outside (no pictures). We do have neighbors that would testify that the garbage was here before we moved in. There are a couple of things we did damage (my dog scratched up a little bit of the wall and door). I don’t think it would be more than my pet deposit ($300) and am afraid they will take all of our money ($1200). Is there a way to assure we are given back a fair amount of our deposit?</p></li>
<li><p>They never respond to calls or e-mails. A lot of broken things have gotten far worse because of their neglect.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a freezer here, and the stuff in it has spoiled. I just opened it and the smell was absolutely disgusting. It was literally the worst smell I ever took a whiff of in my entire life. We agreed to let the guy (their maintenance person) keep it here for $15/month. He hasn’t been here in 2 months. The landlords never respond so we can’t contact him, and we want it out. The smell is slowly leaking into our house and its just not tolerable. What can we do about this?</p></li>
<li><p>There is a clause in our lease stating that if the heat goes over last year’s average, we have to pay the extra amount (they currently pay for heat/hot water). However, we’ve contacted them on several occasions telling them it gets way too hot in our apartment, causing it to be very uncomfortable. We’ve had to leave on several occasions because it was simply unbearable. We have no control over the heat (another apartment does) and that was not stated in the lease, nor were we told about. Is it fair to make us pay any excess costs?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In addition to the help you’ll get here, I wonder if there’s a Legal Aid Society with a Tenants Rights section in your community? They might know some answers by phone. Offhand I wonder if the stinking freezer there is creating a Health Code violation, but don’t know if your accepting the $15/mo to store it makes it your responsibility to clean…</p>
<p>I’m sorry you’re having trouble and anticipate many other parents will chime in.</p>
<p>My son has found he never gets his deposits back no matter how much he cleans the place when he leaves. My daughter’s landlords were upfront about it and told them they will not get theirs back as they use it to clean and prep the place ready for the next tenant. Fortunately they are good landlords and repair things pretty speedily. If the lease says that about the electric then you probably don’t have much option but to pay it (makes me glad my daughter’s electric bill is on her own dime amd under her control).</p>
<p>I would not hold my breath about getting the deposit back.</p>
<p>I didn’t find any legal aides in my county, though one of the colleges here has a law school, maybe there would be a way to get advice from them?</p>
<p>In my last apartment, my landlord was pretty good. We couldn’t clean up to par, and he charged us a bit for little things, but I got most of my security back, no problem.</p>
<p>I don’t trust this guy to do the same. I mean I’m pretty sure this apartment is going to be WAY cleaner when we leave than it was when we got here.</p>
<p>Thats the worst of it, though I do have some other pictures. And I can still take pictures of the garbage outside. Also we were told the landlords would move their junk off the porch (which is also blocking my windows, which has to be some kind of fire hazard, and they never did after numerous requests.</p>
<p>About 25 years ago, my sister and I shared an apartment for the summer while I was in grad school at a low-ranked state school. We got free advice from a lawyer who had hours at the school advising students and filed with a magistrate (or whatever the low level official was at that time) to have our deposit returned. Our experience that summer was similar to what OP has written, horrible condition and slow response to complaints. The law at that time, and I don’t know if it has changed, definitely was in the favor of the tenant. When our deposit was not returned within the specified amount of time, the lawyer told us that we were entitled to double the amount. Although we did not get double the amount due to some technicality, we did get our full deposit returned. Our landlord was not an evil, greedy person, just a schoolteacher trying to earn some extra cash who was in way over his head and could not manage to get things done. It certainly helped our case that we had documented the terrible condition and all phone calls and attempts to get things fixed.</p>
<p>Is that even legal? I’ve been a landlord before and the deposit was not for normal wear and tear. It was our financial responsibility to prep the place for the next tenant. </p>
<p>I would look into that if I were your daughter. It doesn’t sound right.</p>
<p>There has to be someone at city hall who deals with these issues. Call and keep asking until someone helps you. </p>
<p>Regarding the freezer, I would call and leave a message stating that it is now a health hazard and that if it is not removed by X date, you will be calling the board of health. Also tell them that you are sending a certified letter stating same. Then follow through with the letter & keep a copy of it. </p>
<p>My mother did that recently when her condo board tried to put off a smell issue. I could have told them to never, ever mess with my mother!</p>
<p>Basically, you have to stop being a sweet young thing. These people are trying to rip you off. Did they clean and repair the apartment before you moved in? No, they did not. You are not getting your security deposit back without threatening legal action, IMO. The best you can do is get them to clean up and do the needed repairs for the rest of your tenancy. </p>
<p>Take a photo of the spoiled contents of the freezer (the freezer is broken - that’s why the food smells horrible. Frozen food, even if spoiled, wouldn’t smell that bad.) Notify your landlord immediately by phone and e-mail that it is going in the garbage next pickup day. Double bag it in a good quality bag!!! Tie it off twice and dump it. Clean out the freezer with a strong mix of bleach and water. Wear rubber gloves and very old clothes. </p>
<p>Document all of your repair and heat problems - dates when landlord was notified, extent of problems, current state of problems. Don’t worry about the cleaning you had to do - that’s a moot point now, and your photos don’t prove anything -they could have been taken at any time. Your photos should document health and safety issues. Read the regulations for landlords.</p>
<p>Notify your landlord that the items on the porch, the repairs that still need doing, etc. Do it by certified mail that shows it was delivered. </p>
<p>If nothing is done, or not done to your liking, get an attorney to write a letter on his/her letterhead detailing the problems and the process you will take to correct them.</p>
<p>My S lost his full deposit when left studio, even tho I spent a day cleaning it, and he had paid $50 month for his cat, which should have more than covered cleaning the carpet (under 400 sq ft).</p>
<p>Now he’s reanting a condo with a friend. The place was filthy, the frig filled with dying food, cupboards full. So, I start some cleaning. Roommate’s FA comes, calls the landlord, and WOW did he get action. Owner sent over a cleaning crew and handyman. This FA had many rentals himself, and certainly knew the laws and language. </p>
<p>My advice, have a lawyer, law student, experienced older adult, call or write on your behalf. </p>
<p>I will def. check with the above and do the health hazard thing. I’ve been around dissection animals, my dogs when they’re ill and go bathroom in the house, but whatever is rotting in that freezer is just awful, way, way worse than those things combined. I will start getting letters notarized and save emails. Also my pics should have the date on them when printed. Everything is already cleaned, but I think it shows the condition of the apartment when we moved in well.</p>
<p>We have some time before our lease is over, but my boyfriend was talking about not handing in our last month’s rent unless they came here and told us about how much we could expect back for security and stuff, but I wasn’t sure if it was a reasonable request or if it would hurt our credit.</p>
That’s interesting. I wonder if the girl was not supposed to tell her that. it is a large company in a college town with a lot of apartments. The girl who told us that was a probably a college student working there part time. Well she is about to re up for her 3rd year there so we won’t worry about it just now.</p>
<p>SOad is in a jam to be sure. Sadly, Soad has chosen to put herself in the jam. It is terribly terribly foolish to look at a rental unit, see its a mess, and rent it anyway. Worse still to complain about it later. If you tell the judge “we moved in the apartment was absolutely disgusting, like its never been cleaned” any judge is going to think “Hey if it was ok for you to move in, why is it all of a sudden too bad?” and “If it was so disgusting, why did you move in?” And it is reasonable for a judge to be skeptical. Tenant is going to have an EXTREMELY hard time proving what filth was there already compared to any filth tenant may have added and left behind. Pictures need to be “dated”. A tenant’s defense of “it was like that already” is usually laughed at by the judge, in my experience, unless a tenant can document his statement. It is difficult to prove that a <em>wonderfully clean tenant chose to move into a disgusting rental</em>. The very statement defies basic reasoning and makes one skeptical. Yes, it can be true, but very hard to document.
SOad was also foolish to accept a lease clause that might obligate her to pay heat bill when she doesn’t have control of thermostat. Is that fair? YES. Why? You saw the unit, you were told about the heat, you could have looked for thermostat, you could have asked about thermostat/control, but you didn’t. You accepted the terms. Is it common? No. But is it fair? Oh yes. Not liking it now does not suddenly make it unfair. You can’t buy a new car without asking the price first, then a yr into loan payments say it isn’t fair because you didn’t know the price. </p>
<p>So in this case, naturally, I don’t know enough to say <em>evil landlord</em> or <em>uncaring landlord</em> or <em>tenant change of heart</em>. What I do know is tenant knew and accepted most all of the problems in advance of taking posession, yet still chose to take posession. Not saying that course of action makes tenant evil either; just saying it puts tenant in very tough position if tenant has to explain/show why such a bad unit was OK when they took posession, but it isn’t ok now. Most of the <em>problems</em> Soad is describing are self-inflicted and could have been avoided. You cannot choose to <em>look the other way</em> and then later claim “I didn’t know!”.
Seek atty advice, and document ALL correspondence to landlord in writing, take pics with that day’s newspaper beside subject to document when pic was taken. Your pics show you did a nice job cleaning, but that by itself doesn’t affect your sec dep. It is always best to get legal advice from an atty. Even if you pay $100 for a brief consultation, it’s worth it to get a $1200 deposit back. Do only written communication, and keep a copy for yourself. Protect yourself in case this goes to court. There are specific ways to withhold rent for repairs in Ohio, and probably in your state too. If you choose that course of action, be sure you follow the law exactly, or you just look like a deadbeat not paying. You don’t want to give that impression.</p>
<p>I’m sure we were all susceptible to being exploited the first time we signed a lease. Not every landlord is as untrustworthy as this one.</p>
<p>I would urge SOad to put the dirt issue aside; save the photos to warn future tenants from your school, but leave them out of the landlord/tenant wrangle. Focus on what you need to to get the security deposit back, which is a legal standard. The dirt is no longer relevant, except that you will need to leave the place a lot cleaner than you found it. </p>
<p>Also, you should look into repairing the scratches by the dog, as the landlord will surely overcharge for repairs. Spackle and sandpaper can do wonders.</p>
<p>I can add a thing or 2 to help toward the return of your sec dep.
Give landlord plenty of notice in writing before you intend to terminate lease. Carefully clean unit, try to repair any damage if you can. If you hire any help- cleaner or repairman, or a rented carpet cleaner, keep the receipt to document the action. Remember- choosing to leave it dirty because <em>that’s how it was when you moved in</em> will probably not fly if this goes to court.
Take many dated pics the day you move out. Try to schedule a final walk-thru with LL on the day you move out. Be sure to provide your new mailing address.</p>
<p>I agree some are exploited the first time they sign a lease; and I’d add sometimes Landlord is defrauded. But I don’t think that applies in this case.
Based on Op comments, I don’t see exploitation here. LL offered a dirty apt with no thermostat control. Prospective tenant accepted. Freezer problem is between maint man and tenant- not landlord so that doesn’t count. I feel to justify the word “exploit” in this instance, we’d have to see some evidence that Landlord gave tenant something other than what prospective tenant saw. This is not a case of bait-and-switch. I don’t see based on what little we know that this LL cannot be trusted.
The “broken things” Op mentions may or may not be required to be fixed by LL. And naturally any tenant should make a damage/defect sheet(some states even require it) when she moved in, so there should be no dispute on what is a pre-existing condition.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see LL as a <em>shining example</em> of good LL based on OP comments. He doesn’t sound as caring as he could be. Based on what little we know, I can’t say he’s an “awful landlord” either.</p>
<p>When my older d rented a house for senior year. one of her roommates inserted into the lease a clause that stated “if the house was not delivered broom clean, they would hire a cleaning service and deduct from the first month’s rent”. The landlord signed off on that and soon learned that these girls meant business.</p>
<p>My compliments to this group(post 17) of tenants. Sounds like they were thoughtful, prepared, and caring.
I’ve always felt it is better to avoid a dispute than to win one. I hate to hear people crying afterward because they went in to something choosing to be “blindfolded”. We hear it sometimes from landlords- “I should have checked references…”.</p>
