the boyfriend & I just moved from 1 apartment, we were lived for 6 years, to a new place this month. we got the letter in the mail yesterday saying that not only are we not getting our security deposit back, but we OWE THEM $230! They charged us $450 for washing & painting the walls "due to excessive smoking" in a non smoking apartment. (i stopped smoking months ago but i did smoke in the apartment for years).
now, i know they have to wash the walls & paint after every tenant anyways, but can they really charge me $450 for it? Theres a few loop holes that i found so far, one of them being that the orignal lease stated that it was a non-smoking/no pets apartment but 2 yrs into living there, the managment changed & the lease from yearly to monthly & we were allowed to have pets (with a deposit of 1/2 of rent). so i figured the old lease meant nothing.
any advice on this? we're thinking about taking them to small claims court. besides the $450 charge for painting, they also made up some bullshit charges for $100 here & there, completlely making up bogus charges & lies. (and yes, i took pictures of the apartment before I left for evidence).
