Fighting Back

We got a letter from our apartment management yesterday, claiming we owe them money for cleaning, paint and carpet, and threatening to turn us over to collections if we don’t pay within 14 days.  Well, they picked on the wrong people, because we fight back.  First of all, these services haven’t even been done yet, and secondly, they aren’t necessary or specified in our lease, and we have no intention of letting them bully us out of more money.  

 

We have pictures of how much of a rat hole it was when we moved in.  We can prove their negligence to honor the terms of the lease when it came to security and enforcement of noise levels after hours.  We also shampooed the carpet and left the place sparkling, so they have no just cause to keep our security deposit, or ask for more.  Neither do they have any right to send a threatening letter as our very first notice, especially since we never once were late on a payment. 

 

I put together a long letter detailing where they violated the lease terms (though we complied), and let them know we expect our security deposit back or they will be hearing from the Fair Housing Council.  I used plenty of legal language to let them know I was serious, and forwarded it to my Dad, who, as a landlord himself, is very familiar with Oregon Tenant Law.  He says the next time he has trouble with one of his tenants, he’s gonna call me to write a letter for him.  LOL!   

 

Dave took it over to their office this afternoon. Their new manager has only been there a week, so she wasn’t familiar with our complaints up until now.  She had been completely uncooperative over the phone, but it took only one look at the letter (and the photos of the apartment’s condition when we first moved in) to convince her to return our security deposit and call it even.  Thank goodness we were careful to document everything - it saved us $570 in bogus fees!