I am from Virginia and I am currently in a a dispute from my ex-landlord regarding my security deposit and I was wondering where I stand legally at this point. I had been renting from her since February 2014, never missed or was late on a rent payment and never had any trouble or issues with the lease or the condo while living there. The lease was mutually terminated at an agreed upon date (08/09/2017).
Initial dispute: She never notified me of a move-out walk through and tried to charge me the full invoice price of $500 for a pet odor smell removal procedure she had done after she replaced the carpets with hardwood and repainted her condo in its entirety. We'd had email correspondence about the deposit and things she found but this smell was never reported to me as she was "giving me the doubt and thought it would go away on its own". She also deducted half an additional cleaning service (which we'd discussed previously and I agreed to without any contest) and 1/2 a duct cleaning (we had never discussed this but I am fine with that given I had a cat there (ok and stated in lease) and it seemed pretty standard). She added $24.69 since I paid the August gas bill.
Security Deposit Info: The security deposit calculation is $1500 (one month's rent) + $250 (refundable pet deposit)= $1750. The only discussed and agreed upon deductions were: - Calculated August rent ($1500/31 days x9) = -$435.48 -1/2 cleaning fee = $87.50 -Gas bill refund ($34.79/31 x 22) = +24.69 I expected to get back $1251.71
1st Attempt to Dispute (09/08/2017): -She sent me three invoices: one for the cleaning, one for duct cleaning (hadn't been discussed but I was fine with it given the explanation) and a long winded explanation for the ozone odor treatment she had done in her condo and was charging me the full amount of $500 since her argument is that it was 100% pet related and she would never have done it otherwise, despite having just replaced the carpets with hardwood and repainting the whole condo. She went into great detail of how expensive her renovations were. - There was never any smell in the condo, nor did she ever inform me of an official move-out walk through, nor any attempt to notify me of this odor problem and discuss ways to address it, prior to getting an elective, expensive treatment that she charged me in full for - Upon my second email of dispute, I requested two forms of reliable documentation stating that the problem existed in order to be held liable for the cost (she claimed she had dozens of witnesses. FYI, I still live in the same building but in a new unit. At any point she could have asked me to walk down the hall to verify the odor). I also asked for what the amount she was planning to return to me. This email went unanswered. - Two days later, I discover that she left me an envelope with the management office when I went to pick up some package deliveries. She never told me she did this and had actually said she was going to drop it off any my unit, despite my contest to the charge.
- The itemized list is undated and hand written on printer paper containing the following:
- Total Deposit Received $1750
- Calculated August rent ($1500/31 days x9) = -$435.48
- BioShock treatment = -$500
- 1/2 cleaning fee = -$87.50
- 1/2 duct cleaning = $-74.49
- Gas bill refund ($34.79/31 x 22) = +24.69
- Total to be returned = $676.74 The check was inexplicably written for the amount of $652.05 and was dated on 09/03/2017, five days prior to any discussions we had regarding the odor treatment
Second Attempt: - I reached out to her asking for the requested documentation in order to justify being deducted $500 for the ozone treatment. - She responded yesterday (09/10/2017) saying that she voided the check and is now going to charge me for a bunch of arbitrary items that we had either already discussed I was not liable (dishwasher door sticking, refrigerator shelf and carpet cleaning (no carpet liability was written in my lease since she had wanted to replace them prior to my move-in but I asked her not to so I wouldn't be liable) , and items that made no sense (flea and tick removal?? There was no infestation). Here is her new list, with "a quick Google search" to determine the prices: Steam cleaning of carpet - $225 <= Not liable Flea/tick treatment - $75 <= 100% not needed ever Additional cleaning - $175 <= full cost now Dishwasher - $275 <= not liable Refrigerator - $80 <= not liable Painting touch ups - $150 <= she repainted the whole place but I guess whatever) Parking - $120 <= claims I used all her parking passes for August and had to spend all this money to pay for visitor parking. Total Deductions = $1,100
Total to be refunded = $214.52 ($1,750 - $1,100 - $435.48 for August rent) This new list was given to me outside of the 30 day requirement at this point and none of the items on the new list except the cleaning have any receipt justifying the cost and refuses to have a discussion or provide documentation about the odor cost. What are my options from here?
Thanks so much
Submitted September 11, 2017 at 06:56PM by VAtenant1234 http://ift.tt/2jhGouf legaladvice
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