All Forum Posts by: Penny T.
Penny T. has started 1 posts and replied 4 times.
Post: Property Manager sent a bill for 7K + for smoke damage in unit
- Metairie, LA
- Posts 4
- Votes 0
Originally posted by @Frank Chin:
Originally posted by @Penny T.:
Originally posted by @Frank Chin:
I forgot to ask, did they mention this issue in your move-out walkthrough report, and if so, what did it say?
There was no final walk through. There was a "smoke remediation specialist" sent in a week prior, who came in for about 90 seconds, taking 3 photos of the AC intake unit, air vent and hallway carpet. He wrote a report that sounded like it was dictated by the manager (because it made reference to things he couldn't possibly know). He described the apt as "neat and clean", and the smell of smoke as "moderate".
Sounds from the report that a steam cleaning of the carpets, and an complete paint job would cure the issues. That certainly would fall under wear and tear that Jason mentioned. You mentioned it's not even a non-smoking unit. I don't know the landlord tenant laws if your state, but you can check if they notified you in a timely bases. The report of the apt, as neat and clean and moderate smell of smoke does not rise to the level of damages IMHO, and even considered legal notification.
The carpet was at least 8 years old (wasn't new when we moved in), and had been through 4 flooding events from the upstairs apartment, never having been anything more than wet vacced afterwards), so it was likely due for replacement regardless. The replaced the carpet in the other affected Apts after those tenants moved. Their head construction guy, who was supposed to assess cost of repairs based on the report previously mentioned, told us everything he was seeing was water damage that had never been properly repaired, and he found mold in the closet next to the AC and in the air vents. And he gave the maintenance man very cross looks when he found that our smoke detectors had never been replaced after they were damaged and removed from the flooding incident. Management never mentioned that report, nor did we get a copy of it when the notice to vacate came later that day.
Post: Property Manager sent a bill for 7K + for smoke damage in unit
- Metairie, LA
- Posts 4
- Votes 0
Originally posted by @Jason D.:
There are no details. The letter states move in date (which they have wrong by 4 years), original deposit of 475.00, then total deductions of 8000 (which they also added wrong, they added 100 nonrefundable pet deposit and 7000 Nicotine Smoke Damages to arrive at total of 8k), with an asterisk stating *Pending additional charges to be determined.
There is a cover letter that states:
"Attached is the security deposit statement. There is extensive damage in the apartment that exceeds the deposit and your apartment is still being assessed. Please note this is not your final bill. We will provide additional information as repairs are made and expenses are determined."
Post: Property Manager sent a bill for 7K + for smoke damage in unit
- Metairie, LA
- Posts 4
- Votes 0
Originally posted by @Frank Chin:
I forgot to ask, did they mention this issue in your move-out walkthrough report, and if so, what did it say?
There was no final walk through. There was a "smoke remediation specialist" sent in a week prior, who came in for about 90 seconds, taking 3 photos of the AC intake unit, air vent and hallway carpet. He wrote a report that sounded like it was dictated by the manager (because it made reference to things he couldn't possibly know). He described the apt as "neat and clean", and the smell of smoke as "moderate".
Post: Property Manager sent a bill for 7K + for smoke damage in unit
- Metairie, LA
- Posts 4
- Votes 0
We've rented from the same property management company since 2006, and were in our last unit for 7 years. Smoking was not prohibited, in fact when we specifically asked if there were smoking/non-smoking units, we were told they had no non-smoking units. We had no problems with the management until the most recent property manager took over. Happy to give more background, but suffice it to say we got off to a bad start and it's been downhill ever since. I firmly believe that this manager has a personal grudge against us as a result, and we were given a 5 day notice to vacate for violating the "noxious odor" section of the lease. We moved, and just received (at day 31 after move out) a certified letter stating that we had $7100 worth of smoke damage in the apartment "pending additional charges to be determined".
Happy to give more details of all the issues we put up with while living here just to avoid having to deal with the manager, but really wants some perspective from the landlords and experts here. This amount seems completely ridiculous for the unit in question. What options do I have to fight this? I'm in Louisiana.