Unreasonable Move Out Fee?

[Elizabeth Maloney]

Hello, recently I lived in a Townhome, and due to financial reasons, had to move out.

We received extra expenses upon moving out, most of which we believe we should not have to pay for, so I'll go into a bit more detail before asking "is this something we should be paying for, or is it unreasonable?"

First off:

~Furniture removal, garbage trash - $200.00~

-Now, I find this reasonable. Due to circumstances beyond our control (a very bad snowstorm), we were unable to transport all trash and furniture to be disposed of to the curb due to all the snow that was plowed (multiple storms + plowed onto our curb equal snow 5 feet high). I'd agree to pay this because they did need to place our trash out once they were able.

However, the landlord had previously had our garbage removal shut off (and we did not know this, because our garbage continued to be picked up and we received no notification until we called them to tell them to shut it off since we were moving.) Our neighbors, connected to our townhome, had previously moved out and the shut off time for their garbage was the same time, possibly meaning it was an honest mistake.

~Trash removal: $375~

Now, I don't get this. Its like we're being charged for the same thing twice in a row. Can anyone explain this to me? They're claiming it was left outside...which...yes, we put things on the curb to be collected by the garbage men, and the garbage cut off date should have been after this stuff was collected.

~Carpet Cleaning/Pet Deodorizing $175~

-Can they charge us for this, as they have been charging us a monthly pet fee for our cats specifically to cover damage upon move out ($25)? What were we paying them extra pet money for if its not to cover this upon moving out when they stated to us that's what the extra fee meant?

~Stove/Fridge Cleaning $75~

Now, I've kept the stove and fridge pretty much immaculate. I hate, hate, hate the idea of bad food sitting anywhere, and cooking with dirty stuff. I'd wipe down the fridge and the stove and sanitize them (stove daily, fridge every few weeks). I was constantly throwing out food before its expiration, and I never kept food out of sealed containers, so there couldn't possibly be much to clean at all.

~Water and Sewage Bill Unpaid $186.13~

-Why are they charging us this? We had the bill transferred directly to us and our new address when we had them cut off, why is our landlord demanding it when we've spoken to the companies and are handling it on our end?

~Blinds $70~

-Our cats destroyed these, which should again fall under pet damages cost cover. The blinds in need of replacing are not nearly as expensive as the bill, so I'm thinking this is labor costs more than product cost (I meant to replace them myself, as the blinds cost $10 exact duplicates, there were 3 blinds total to be replaced.)

~Key $5~

-All the keys we returned, apparently we missed the garage key. I can agree with this charge, though I thought I returned all the required keys to the landlord.

~Ceiling Fan Cleaning $35~

-These were a little dusty at best. I've wiped them down...but ceiling fans are ceiling fans, they like to pick up dust. The price to just wipe them off seems extravagant.

~Removal of Boxes in the Basement $100~

I can agree to this charge, we had some empty boxes left over. But the fact is they were empty and ready for trash, so $100 seems a touch over priced for walking 10 feet to drop them in the garbage. To repeat, I would have done this had there not been such deep snow blocking us from trash removal.

To add on to this, our landlord has shown incompetence for a long time.

Occasion 1

-Lawn

We received a notice to cut our grass, fine, we pay someone to do it every 2 weeks. The notice we received was short notice (less than 12 hours) before our landlord had it cut themselves. They wanted to charge us $50 and they only did 1/3rd of the lawn, and left all the clippings there. They also complained about our bushes. Now, we have a guy come do it, he does a great job, cuts the grass, bushes, and removes all debris from the lawn for $40 a month. We disputed this with the landlord and they dropped it as they'd given us less than 12 hours to comply. (Also, several homes had lawns twice as long as ours, but were not forced to cut their lawns to our knowledge.)

Occasion 2

-Gutter

My bf lived in the townhome a year and a half prior to myself coming to live with him. We paid monthly for maintenance. The gutter had fallen off a half of year into his time living there. He kept phoning and sending letters to the landlord about the gutter, which she acknowledged then ignored. Over time, this has caused water damage and mold to the walls, which was also acknowledged then ignored by the landlord.

Occasion 3

-Our toilet broke, the only one in the townhome, and it took two days to finally get the landlord to send someone in to repair. Their excuse was the repair man had family issues and that's why it took so long (they had only one repair man, and instead of hiring someone in his place, the entire area was left unrepaired while he was gone). To add to this, the repair man said that before him, there was no maintenance man for 6 months. Many homes were in dire need of repair, and most had residents in them.

Occasion 4

-Our heater broke, several times. A new repair man came in to fix it all three times, they responded quickly. By this time, a pipe had broken (bathroom above the kitchen) to which any time we took a shower or bath, water leaked in the kitchen (we placed a bucket under the leak when bathing). This was acknowledged and ignored by the repair man and the land lord, both whom we spoke to about it.

Occasion 5

-Our mail slot broke off, leaving a gap in our garage door. This happened in the winter months. The land lord saw it and told us they should fix it as it would cost us a bundle in heating. She stated this to us personally...months later, it was still not fixed.

So my question is: How much do we owe them? What do they owe us? We had every legal right to not pay rent (which I regret not doing) till they fixed our home and made it livable. Now they're charging us a great deal of money that some of our rent should have paid for. They deducted the security deposit from it.

My BF previously lived in this area in another townhome. He left it immaculate upon moving out and did not receive notice nor money back. We did not expect to see any back this time either, but we did not expect such a large bill for some things they claimed were paid for in our monthly rent.

Thank you in advance for any insight on this matter.

[Jon Holdman]

Sounds like you left without giving proper notice (whatever's required by your lease) and left stuff behind. Since you abdicated on dealing with the mess, you turned over your control over the expenses to the landlord. You may, depending on laws and customs in your area, be able to ask the landlord to provide receipts for these expenses, or a listing of their standard fees for dealing with your mess. The fact you had financial problems and the snow is irrelevant for dealing with your obligations.

You're paying extra each month for the pet being there. It doesn't mean you get to leave behind odors and damage. The landlord is within his or her rights to charge you to correct these damages.

None of these charges seem outrageous. High, perhaps, but if you wanted to avoid these, you should have dealt with the mess.

You're being charged for the utilities because it appears they were your obligation. Just turning them off doesn't end your obligation. You break your lease and move out of one of my units, and you're going to be charged for utilities until I get a new tenant in place, or your lease ends, whichever comes first.

I'd have also charged you for rent until your lease ended or I got another tenant, again, whichever comes first. And I'd have charged you a lease breaking fee.

What to avoid these charges? Leave the place spotless.

You could dispute these charges if you feel they're excessive or unjustified. Do it in writing. Your landlord may drop it, may take you to court, or may just hand it over to collections. If they pursue it, and you feel these charges are unjustified, you may have to countersue the landlord.