Renter Question - No Deposit; Threatening to Charge

[Lucas Hammer]

So I'm a renter and a landlord currently. We'll be house-hacking in Chicago, but we're moving out of our current apartment to take possession of the new 2-flat we bought. We gave a notice to vacate with our rent to our management company and have started preparing our new house.

Our current management company just sent us a schedule of charges if we don't thoroughly clean the unit we're in. The issue is that they bought the building after our old lease had expired from the previous owners, so we've never had a lease with them. In addition, our previous management didn't utilize deposits and instead just charged a non-refundable $250 move-in fee to cover any costs.

I guess my question is whether or not they can actually charge us to clean things that weren't clean when we moved in and actually bill us for work if it wasn't a part of our original lease and we've never had a lease with the current management company.

[Thomas S.]

They can do whatever they want and you have the option to pay or refuse, they then have the option to take you to court or let it go.

The ball is now in your court, your move.