slycotton82
New Member
Thinking of filing small claims against my landlord from last year. Here's the deal:
The lease specified that we had to clean the unit to an "A standard" upon moveout or be charged cleaning fees. My roommate and I cleaned the hell out of the place. I was present (by myself) for the inspection by the rental company's property manager. He was impressed by our cleaning and told me that we could expect to get our whole deposit back, minus what we had agreed upon for carpet cleaning charges. I watched him call the office and tell them our unit needed no additional cleaning. When we got our deposit back we had been charged for carpet cleaning, plus 125.00 for "cleaning charges" per the itemized statement. I wrote two letters to the management asking why we were charged so much. After the second one I got a letter back from the property manager (a different one than the one who inspected) who told me they went in with a cleaning crew the next day and we had a number of things that needed additional cleaning. The itemized statement with his letter said they charged 125.00 for an eight person crew to clean for 1/2 hour.
I have a few problems with this. For one, there is no mention anywhere in the lease of another inspection after the one I was present for. This seems like a sneaky attempt to justify charging us for cleaning without us having a chance to contest it. Second, there is no way in hell that apartment cleaners get paid 30+ dollars per hour, so someone is pocketing excess cash from my rental deposit. Third, and most obviously, the place was spotless and definitely didn't NEED another 1/2 hour of cleaning, especially not from eight people.
I went to the rental office and spoke to the guy who inspected the apartment, asked him if he remembered me; he did. He remembered calling off the cleaning crew but said he didn't know at the time they would be sending one in the next day. He would not give me a copy of his inspection sheet, saying it was an internal document.
In the state of Iowa burden of proof for withholding deposit money is on the landlord. I am wondering if I have a solid case if I subpoena the guy who inspected, the sheet he filled out, and financial records relating to what the rental company actually paid to have the place cleaned. Also, does anyone know if landlords are only allowed to charge a tenant what they actually pay for cleaning/damages? I have a hard time believing they are paying a cleaning crew $250 an hour and I would like to challenge them on this as well if possible.
I live in a college town and this kind of predatory renting is fairly commonplace unfortunately; most students either don't have the time, the knowledge, or don't care to challenge these people when they get screwed.
The lease specified that we had to clean the unit to an "A standard" upon moveout or be charged cleaning fees. My roommate and I cleaned the hell out of the place. I was present (by myself) for the inspection by the rental company's property manager. He was impressed by our cleaning and told me that we could expect to get our whole deposit back, minus what we had agreed upon for carpet cleaning charges. I watched him call the office and tell them our unit needed no additional cleaning. When we got our deposit back we had been charged for carpet cleaning, plus 125.00 for "cleaning charges" per the itemized statement. I wrote two letters to the management asking why we were charged so much. After the second one I got a letter back from the property manager (a different one than the one who inspected) who told me they went in with a cleaning crew the next day and we had a number of things that needed additional cleaning. The itemized statement with his letter said they charged 125.00 for an eight person crew to clean for 1/2 hour.
I have a few problems with this. For one, there is no mention anywhere in the lease of another inspection after the one I was present for. This seems like a sneaky attempt to justify charging us for cleaning without us having a chance to contest it. Second, there is no way in hell that apartment cleaners get paid 30+ dollars per hour, so someone is pocketing excess cash from my rental deposit. Third, and most obviously, the place was spotless and definitely didn't NEED another 1/2 hour of cleaning, especially not from eight people.
I went to the rental office and spoke to the guy who inspected the apartment, asked him if he remembered me; he did. He remembered calling off the cleaning crew but said he didn't know at the time they would be sending one in the next day. He would not give me a copy of his inspection sheet, saying it was an internal document.
In the state of Iowa burden of proof for withholding deposit money is on the landlord. I am wondering if I have a solid case if I subpoena the guy who inspected, the sheet he filled out, and financial records relating to what the rental company actually paid to have the place cleaned. Also, does anyone know if landlords are only allowed to charge a tenant what they actually pay for cleaning/damages? I have a hard time believing they are paying a cleaning crew $250 an hour and I would like to challenge them on this as well if possible.
I live in a college town and this kind of predatory renting is fairly commonplace unfortunately; most students either don't have the time, the knowledge, or don't care to challenge these people when they get screwed.
