Is this ridiculously excessive?

Cracka

Cracka

CAG Newbie
I'm moving out of my apartment tomorrow as i've finished my classes and thus have earned my degree. I'm living in one of these college apartments where you basically rent a room and share a living room / kitchen with 3 other roomates. The people that run these apartments have already been overdoing it with the fines which is why i'm ready to get out of the building as quick as possible. Well i got a packet today telling me about the process of leaving and it basically says:

1)The apartment must be properly cleaned or you'll be charged (nothing wrong with that)
- Bathroom not up to par? $100
- Stove not fully clean? $75
- Refrigerator a little dirty? $75
- Kitchen not spotless? $100
- Living room still dirty? $150
- Bedroom not perfect $95.60 (how do they come up with this when everything is a multiple of 25)
- Oh yea and $27.50 / hour for labor

Here's the part i love... I'm the only roomate moving out right now so they're going to judge the cleanliness of the apartment based off of how clean or dirty my roomates decide to be that day..

Then there are about 5 more pages of possible fines such as:
- Furniture in the wrong room. Did you accidentally move that chair that goes to the kitchen table a few feet over into the living room? $25 per item
- Missing a bedroom key, front door key, or a key to the mailbox? $25 per key missing
((Great my mailbox key got fucked so i gotta pay a $25 fine so they can go get a $1 copy made))
 
Since you are the only one moving out, I would think that the fees applicable should be the ones relating to your specific room(s), not the areas that everyone shares.

But in any case, those rates are very high. You could pay a professional cleaning service $100-$150 to clean everything.
 
Sometimes it's best to just not pay the last month's rent and assume that they will not be giving you your deposit back. This way you are out half a month's rent instead of a month and a half.
 
do they rent to college students? thatd by my guess as to why they would charge out the ass like that which even if you clean they can still say you didnt do one thng or another or just say it wasnt done to their specifications. and are all those fees what you personally would be responsible for or what all of you would pay together?you all could just chip in and hire a cleaning crew once everyones out.

normally they give you exact instructions on what they want you to do but alot of what youre listing seems kinda vague.
 
Don't most places refund the deposit once everyone leaves? We've always just figured that the roommates staying give the departing a check for his share of the deposit, and they get paid back out of the deposit when everyone leaves.
 
What kills me is they have people around my age (22) running this complex and the kid that comes and inspects my apartment will basically be deciding what to charge and what not to charge. Another kicker: the paper says i will not be told at the time of the inspection what is wrong and what is owed, i will be sent a bill in the mail.

I planned on vacuuming the carpet and cleaning up the bathroom pretty good and everything anyway just out of respect, but i don't plan on scrubbing the place from top to bottom so i'm hoping they're not planning on charging me a $1000 fine for miscellaneous things not being spotless.
 
1)There was no deposit apparently, i looked at the lease a minute ago. I'm assuming this is a possible reason for insane fees?

2)Its not going to be split between us because the other roommates are staying next year and not moving out. If we were all moving out at the same time it wouldn't be anything to get a company to just come clean it and us split the bill but that won't work in this situation. Apparently they're gonna just hit us up separately and make a killing off of each of us.

Another thing that pisses me off is these fines that they could charge aren't even used to pay for a cleaner, because there's a seperate fee for labor costs.
 
IANAL, but ...

I would have the landlord look over the property and give you a ballpark on how much he would charge for you leaving.

If he gives you some outlandish figure of over $1000 and there is no possible way you can get it under $1000, shake his hand and bid him a good day. If it is under $1000, have a written agreement, pay the asshole and be done with him.

Ultimately, you're going to have to agree to any charges levied against you to help the landlord have a lawsuit against you. Don't do that.

If you don't agree that the "stove is not fully clean" among the other charges, he has to convince a judge in court that you kept the stove from being clean. Considering three other people are active tenants, how will any unbribed judge agree with the landlord?

When you leave, don't agree there are any defects to the residence. You might spend the day in court in a year or two, but they have to take their chances with the judge, too.
 
[quote name='Cracka']Another kicker: the paper says i will not be told at the time of the inspection what is wrong and what is owed, i will be sent a bill in the mail.[/QUOTE]

Did you agree to this?
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']Did you agree to this?[/QUOTE]

i know in california it is your legal right to demand an inspection before you move out and they HAVE to tell you what is wrong so you have time to fix it on your own.
 
no it is just something it says on one of the pieces of paper that was in the packet left on my door
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']IANAL, but ...

I would have the landlord look over the property and give you a ballpark on how much he would charge for you leaving.

If he gives you some outlandish figure of over $1000 and there is no possible way you can get it under $1000, shake his hand and bid him a good day. If it is under $1000, have a written agreement, pay the asshole and be done with him.

Ultimately, you're going to have to agree to any charges levied against you to help the landlord have a lawsuit against you. Don't do that.

If you don't agree that the "stove is not fully clean" among the other charges, he has to convince a judge in court that you kept the stove from being clean. Considering three other people are active tenants, how will any unbribed judge agree with the landlord?

When you leave, don't agree there are any defects to the residence. You might spend the day in court in a year or two, but they have to take their chances with the judge, too.[/QUOTE]
IANAL either but this sounds like sound advice. There is no reasonable reason why they should charge you for common area things that aren't "clean" up to their standards. Do not agree to any charges they decide to give if they are excessive.
 
Just get some one you know to dress up and impersonate a lawyer. If their gonna d!ck with you. You might as well have some fun with them.
 
Read before you sign. Since it's too late for that, ask to see where in the lease it says these ridiculous charges. And of course, blame your roommates since they're staying.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']That's pretty steep. How much for a new door and lock?[/QUOTE]

well thats because the keys are made by Keebler elves.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']That's pretty steep. How much for a new door and lock?[/QUOTE]
they rekey the building (3 doors) when a key is lost, that's what the $150 covers

i'm in a sorta ghetto area of seattle & a ton of old ppl live here so they're paranoid
 
[quote name='camoor']Also - take pictures of the place when you leave, they could come in useful esp when you go on Judge Judy.[/QUOTE]

DEFINITELY do this, and make sure the date and time is stamped on the pictures by your camera. And save those pictures in a safe place for the next year or two, they could be your only defense if they try to take you to court later.
 
Don't pay shit. Tell your landlord to fuck off and let Judge Judy decide the outcome.

EDIT: Dammit, someone beat me to the Judge Judy joke. Okay, how about Joe Brown?
 
I've had stuff like that in leases before (though prices not as high) but in my experience they're not too thorough in the inspections.

I did pay $40 for an oven cleaning once. It was a disaster and I was more than willing to pay that than fuck with cleaning it myself.
 
[quote name='keithp']DEFINITELY do this, and make sure the date and time is stamped on the pictures by your camera. And save those pictures in a safe place for the next year or two, they could be your only defense if they try to take you to court later.[/QUOTE]

Thirded.

If the landlord whips out pictures, I would argue those pictures are of a different apartment. That assumes all of the apartments look the same and have the same appliances in the same position of the apartment.
 
Your college might have a free law service of some sort. Usually law students in training. You could see if your school offers something like that and ask for advice. I'm sure they get a lot of rental questions.
 
[quote name='ToadallyAwesome']Your college might have a free law service of some sort. Usually law students in training. You could see if your school offers something like that and ask for advice. I'm sure they get a lot of rental questions.[/QUOTE]

Mine does. Good advice there.
 
Seriously though, cover your bases to protect yourself. But those things are likely just their to scare college kids from trashing the plac eand not cleaning it at all, and as long as you do a decent cleaning you should be fine.
 
One place I lived in before I went on-campus exclusive had a $200 deposit. Then when you leave, they have the cleaning lady do the cleaning inspections (conflict of interest much?). As I was getting ready to leave I was told by many people that you might as well not clean a thing because they always just hold back everyone's $200 and claim the place was a disaster. So I confronted the manager about the claims and she assured me that she was the one who did the inspections and that most people get their money back. Well, I believed her. So I just cleaned the heck out of my assigned cleaning duties. The problem is I was living with some old guys who for some reason were allowed to live in college housing who were slobs and had lived there for 5+ years already (this is actually why I was leaving). I cleaned for about 8-10 hours after having everything packed and moved out. Then I left. A couple of months later I got a check for somewhere around $160. No itemized list of charges or even a brief explanation. I was ticked off. I complained at them, but they claimed I didn't clean well enough. But since everyone I knew who moved at the same time as me got $0-40 refunded while that was the amount I was charged, I just dropped it and have convinced many people over the past few years not to move into that complex.

But now whether it is a monthly cleaning inspection or a final cleaning check, I always make sure I am there when it happens. I clean so well that I never have any problems, but if I did I would be there to fix it and not be charged. Then I have them sign off on me having a perfect inspection before I leave. I have always had a full refund ever since that other experience.

My current on-campus charges look similar to what you listed. But if you clean, there is not a problem. That is why I live on-campus. They are honest. Not only do they only charge you if you don't clean (they actually clean up minor things for free but don't advertise that), but they actually clean/fix anything you get charged for. And if you lose a key, they charge $30 for the apartment and $5 for the mailbox key so that they can have the door/box re-keyed and re-issue new keys to all room mates. I have been in apartment complexes that charge $35 for a lost mailbox key alone and then just re-cut the same key. The point of the charge is for security purposes. Otherwise, they would not stamp them "DO NOT DUPLICATE" and you could just get a whole bunch of extras made when you move in.

My point is that the charges aren't out of the ordinary. I have worked for on-campus housing and know how much of a pain and hard work it is to go around and re-do everything correctly for lazy/selfish people. But that doesn't mean you have to be hosed by them. Just be smart about it. Clean well and then have them check everything in front of you. Then get it in writing that you are free and clear of any charges.
 
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