Security Deposit Question

HardcoreRomantic

Senior member
Jun 20, 2007
259
0
0
At the end of August, I moved out of an apartment. When my roommate and I moved in, it was a total disaster, and we could never quite get it clean (for example, our kitchen cupboards were always slightly sticky even after our attempts at scrubbing). Anyway, when I was doing my move out cleaning, I was having some problems with a couple windows (getting them in and out), so I called my building manager. He told me that they had a cleaning crew already lined up to take care of everything, so I shouldn't worry about the windows and the carpet, and I shouldn't do any hardcore cleaning. I still scrubbed both the bedrooms and the bathroom as best as I could (as well as all the closets), finished the windows that I didn't have problems with (those were only in one room), vacuumed, cleaned the stove (covered in cooking oil when we moved in, sparkling white when I moved out), and scrubbed the kitchen floor. I figured this was more than enough just to cover myself since I was told not to worry about the cleaning. I even got a text from the manager saying that the place looked great.

Now today, I get my security deposit back in the mail, and they charged me for stuff I was told not to worry about (the carpet cleaning plus 3 extra hours of other cleaning). Since I just talked to my manager on the phone when he told me not to worry about it, should I even bother calling to see if I could get that portion of the deposit back? (they took out $87, which isn't a lot, but I'm a college student, so it would definitely be useful)
 

woodie1

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2000
5,947
0
0
Consider this a lesson learned. If you want your full deposit returned then clean everything yourself.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,811
126
Always take pictures. $87 isn't bad for unit and carpet cleaning.
 

mAdMaLuDaWg

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2003
2,437
1
0
Wow, $87. I remember when I moved out of my first apartment in college, they took out $500. Granted, I deserved it by not cleaning up properly... I was really pissed off. Consider yourself very lucky.
 

sonambulo

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2004
4,777
1
0
$87 is not bad and you will lose that much in time (prep and in court), easily, by attempting to take your landlord to court. See sig.

edit: Next time, and I cannot emphasize this enough, get any kind of agreement between the two of you regarding your lease in writing.