[AL] Landlord took $1500 dollar security deposit, and now wants us to pay him more. legaladvice

Hello! I moved out of my rented house at the end of October. I lived in the house with two other roommates, and together we all paid a $1500 dollar security deposit to our landlord. Our landlord is just some older, local guy who rents out a couple of places with the help of his family - he is not a big rental company. We lived there for two years, and never really had any problems - other than the AC going out, but in general, everything was good and our relationship with out landlord was seemingly good.

We gave our landlord proper notice of terminating our lease, and everything was done the proper way. We had our stuff out, and had cleaned the place, mowed the yard, trimmed the bushes, and left the place in good condition - other than expected wear and tear.

Now, more than a month later - we've received an Itemized list with the following deductions:

• Nov. 1/2 Months rent for late key return (turned in 11/7) -$750

• Replace large broken window (it was broken during the move, so this one was expected). - $150

• New Refrigerator Gasket Doors - $118.66 - Install Labor - $180 (I don't even know what a gasket door is, and we NEVER had any issues with the refrigerator??)

• Replace Stove Handle Parts - $40 - Install Labor - $60.00 (Again, the stove was fine when we left!)

• Replace 22 Light bulbs - $110.00 (I don't even believe that their are 22 light fixtures in this place, and we didn't take any light bulbs when we left or even notice bulbs being out)

• Clean 3 Ceiling Fans - $75.00

• Clean Stove and Oven - $100.00

• Clean refrigerator in and out - $75.00

• Clean all kitchen cabinets - $75.00 (We had a pantry, so we only ever kept clean dishes in the cabinets)

• Dust and Wipe down all Windows & Sills, Doors, Baseboards, and sweeping and mopping - $100.00 ( we did a good general sweeping, mopping, and wiping down of the place once we had moved our stuff out)

• Clean Back Porch - $25.00 (This House DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A BACK PORCH!)

• Clean grease off Stove - $40.00

• Clean yard - $120.00 (We definitely did ALL of the yard work before we moved out. So, I'm not sure what he means by this, but he does own two apartment complexes on both sides of the house and the tenants constantly let their dogs shit in the yard. ALSO, I walk by the house EVERY weekday to get to work and they haven't TOUCHED the yard.)

So, all of that totals $2,043.66 minus our $1,500 dollar deposit, which we were honestly expecting back, leaves us owing $543.66.

I think it is important that the lease states being charged for lost keys, but the keys ARE NOT MENTIONED at all in the section about terminating our lease - we followed the appropriate requests by giving written notice 60 days in advance.

Then, the lease also has a section stating regular wear and tear is to be expected. We were also never given a schedule of cleaning costs or anything.

Finally, there is a section of the lease that specifically states that the Stove and Refrigerator are owned and maintained by the landlord.

Could anyone give me some advice about how I should/could handle this?

Submitted December 12, 2017 at 08:25PM by broooosephh http://ift.tt/2AdRXGS legaladvice