Our landlord kicked us out a month early, verbally agreed to the cleaning that was our responsibility and is now trying to charge us

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Our landlord kicked us out a month early, verbally agreed to the cleaning that was our responsibility and is now trying to charge us

I lived in west Philadelphia with my roommate for about a year. Our lease was due to end at the end of June. However, our landlord “mixed up”leases and rented out our apartment for the beginning of June. In April we were informed that we were to be out before the end of May, and were provided a list of items that our landlord wanted us to complete before we were out (we no longer have the list). We conference called our landlord to inform him that technically we did not need to be out til June and that we would not have enough time to complete the assigned tasks. He verbally agreed that we did not need to paint, or fix the holes in the flooring. Later my roommate spoke to him herself and he told her that because we were leaving early we did not need to do much except make sure the nail holes we created were filled and the carpets were vacuumed and steam cleaned, which we did. We have since received letters from our landlord detailing the charges against us which include man hours for cleaning the carpets, cleaning behind the fridge and stove of dead mice and their droppings and the hole in the bathroom floor. We had cleaned the kitchen floor numerous times over the year and complained three times to our landlord that the mice situation was out of control, each time he would say it was the first he heard about it. On top of all this, the list of charges totals $790 and he says we owe him $65. However, the different deposits we had to put down total $825 and would mean that he owes us $35. We would like advice on how to proceed and deal with our landlord

Asked on June 10, 2009 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

J.V., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 14 years ago | Contributor

what you need to do is first get all the paperwork together. A copy of the lease, deposit checks anything you still have regarding this issue. Than what you need to do is consult with a local attorney or if you want to handle it yourself call the landlord and explain the situation that you had the extra month you did him a favor and in fact the deposit should be refunded to you. Also save the paperwork that he is trying to get more money from you. Explain if he pushes this than you will have no choice but to hire a lawyer

Than if he continues you may want to get a lawye to make a few calls and simply try to get the situation taken care of without having to proceed with a lawsuit


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