Matt
all messages by user
1/25/2018
Topic:
Tenant Liability when Moving Out
Matt
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Hi there,
not sure if someone can help here but I a question in regards to what my liability is as a tenant.
A few months ago our landlord notified us they were going to move back into their apartment and they would need us to move out. (They sold their new apartment - we checked)
We moved out 1 month before we had to and also didn’t claim one month’s rent as we would be entitled to.
The landlord now tries to make us pay for substantial renovations. They sent us images and a list of items they thought we should be responsible for.
Some of those items I agree with, however it seems a little bit excessive.
- Hardwood Floor had some dwelling (not sure how this would have happened as we had carpet all around) - Possible caused by hanging laundry (the complex does not allow for drying on the balcony)
- Some holes & nails for pictures, some tape we didn’t rip off
- Microwave was really dirty
- Some other minor things
So I agree with some of these items, especially the Microwave. We have very busy lives and we tried our best to accommodate the landlord so they could move in an entire month earlier than they wanted.
We offered to come back and clean it. In regards to flooring - sure I’ll pay for repairs.
They now came back with costs (after they fixed everything).
$4500 … wow ($3500 Floor; rest for paint, cleaning etc.)
They painted EVERYTHING and replaced the entire hardwood floor with a newer and better floor.
Should I have to pay for all this? Im willing to pay a reasonable amount for repairs but this just seems highly excessive. I will definitely claim my one month rent now to get it down to $2850 (rent: $1650)
but I still feel this is too much for a COMPLETE renovation.
I’m willing to offer them a flat amount of $1000 and would call it even - Though Im worried they would try to get a debt agency involved. we’ll be looking into getting mortgage soon and I don’t want negative credit.
Thanks for any advice!
Matt |