What is the best way to fight a cleaning charge on an apartment? for Questionland Seattle

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What is the best way to fight a cleaning charge on an apartment?

I moved out of One Thousand Eight Avenue Apts on First Hill (which were just terrible to live in to begin with) months ago and received a carpet cleaning/unit clean bill for $140 since I did not have to pay a security deposit. I told them that I would not pay it since I had personally cleaned my apt after I moved out and there was nothing to necessitate a carpet clean (I only lived there 9 months and the unit was in excellent shape). My lease stated I had to return the apt to the original condition, normal wear and tear expected. I think I had less than normal wear and tear. After fighting with the company and collection agency they admitted that they charge this fee NO MATTER WHAT. I have paid the fees (because otherwise it goes on my credit report), which is pure BS. This is just wrong and I think attention needs to be called to this scam, because that is all that it is.

NonPASeattlite asked in Legal about 1 year ago | Report

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Russ Campbell, NWEBS

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The Landlord Tenants Law in Washington is very clear about security deposits and the disposition of the same. I realize you didn't pay one. The whole idea of a deposit is to cover these kind of charges. I suspect that by not doing that they didn't have much to stand on besides the threat to your credit rating and bullied you into it.

Having a walk through with them and getting them to sign something as to the state of the place before you walked away would have been a good idea. But having said that I am not sure how legal their threats and charges are.

By a 1985 decision the Washington State Attorney General's Office cannot be involved in individual cases of landlord tenant disputes but they have a great resource page for finding help in these matters. I still think that calling them and talking to one of the folks there would be a good idea because this may indeed be a scam and equate as abuse that they would want to know about.

You will probably have to take the company to small claims court to try to retrieve your money. I don't know how successful that would be.

http://www.atg.wa.gov/

specifically:
http://www.atg.wa.gov/ResidentialLT/default.aspx

Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Legal about 1 year ago | Report

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soundslikepuget

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This won’t help you in this particular situation, but for next time:
Make a video when you move it. Start by shooting film of yourself buying today’s newspaper at the corner store, or from a machine. Zoom in on the newspaper to prove the date. Say on the film “Today is (day of week, date, year), and I am moving into the apartment at (address street unit number.” Then film yourself walking around the apartment pointing out every tiny imperfection and speck of dirt you can find. Your video will be incontrovertible proof about the condition of the apartment when you moved in.
That way, if the jerks try to stick you with a cleaning fee for not leaving it in as good of condition as it was when you moved in, you can take them to small claims court and you will have a slam-dunk case with your video. Heck, you probably won’t even have to follow through with the court case, just show them the video and threaten to take them to court and they’ll probably cry uncle and pay you.
Sorry this won’t help you this time around, but it’s a good plan for next time. I always did this before I found a landlord who isn’t a dick, and it always worked for me.

soundslikepuget answered in Legal about 1 year ago | Report

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I don't know if this is the *best* way, because there are fees involved, but you could take them to small claims court. It might look better for your case if you're the one bringing up the dispute in court. If they're acting fraudulently, they will likely "settle" the case.

Jessica Baxter answered in Legal about 1 year ago | Report

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