[USER]

Any tips on how to dispute charges on a security deposit? For reference, we were renting in Virginia. We moved out from a rental property in November and just received the security deposit.

We were charged for a ‘detailed house cleaning’ after we hired a professional house cleaner and submitted the receipt to the property manager.

Both the cleaner and I had told the property manager to let us know if there were any discrepancies and she would perform a touch up.

There was no communication from the PM if dissatisfaction. She has communicated at time of move out that it looked good.

The house cleaning invoice she provided is dates 2 weeks later.

Secondly we received a charge for a missing refrigerator drawer and a door shelf in addition to the cost of replacing the filter in the refrigerator.

There was nothing in the lease outlining our responsibility to replace the fridge filter. The filter had a date on it that was well before we moved in, so it was not new upon our move in.

The drawer she is referring to is not part of the refrigerator configuration. We removed it and set it in the pantry for safe keeping.

We did forget return it to the refrigerator, but it was left on the premise. we would have communicated this to her if she had asked.

As for the missing door shelf, I have no idea what she is talking about. No pictures were provided. Unfortunately, I don’t believe I took any pictures of the inside of the refrigerator at time of move in.

This seems like a we said-she said situation. I’m utterly frustrated with the lack of communication and transparency from her about these charges, especially when she adds a 20% admin charge for each service completed.

To add, we thoroughly read our lease in preparation for move out and sent the property manager an email to confirm what actions we needed to take and to ask if they had preferred vendors.

There was never any mention of changing the filter in the refrigerator. We did change the air filter and leave extra filters we had purchased.

There were additional charges to the security deposit which we were aware would be so we are not disputing everything.

[Teresa]

Virginia law 55.1-1214 Inspection of dwelling unit states the landlord shall within 5 days after moving the landlord must send the tenant an itemized damages to dwelling…..

the report shall be deemed correct unless the tenant objects to it in writing within 5 days after receipt of the report

Dispute the charge with the landlord if you did not receive an itemized bill and given the opportunity to respond in writing.

I contacted the renting office of my son’s apartment and read the above section to them. We got his full deposit back.

[Shirizz]

Landlord/tenant law is very state specific. If you could speak to an attorney (paid 1 hour consult with an attorney who specializes in it) or a good tenants right group as mentioned previously, it will be worth your time.

[Dana]

Were they late?
If a Virginia landlord fails to return a tenant’s security deposit within 45 days of the lease ending, the tenant may be entitled to the full deposit amount, plus potential legal fees, as the landlord is required to return the deposit within that timeframe and provide an itemized list of any deductions made; this includes situations where the landlord does not provide a proper explanation for deductions from the deposit.

[Helene]

Contact your state attorney general’s office and ask about filing a complaint against the management company that the property manager works for.

[Vannie]

this is very common in Hawaii, landlord would take advantage of tangent, they just find some “reason” to charge you, knowing it is too much work for you to sue them

[Kimberly]

I wonder if she had work done in the house such as painters or she did some upgrades, and then she hired professional cleaners to come in two weeks later and clean up that mess and that’s what she is charging you for.

I would send a certified letter and dispute the things that you are saying that are incorrect.

I would also ask her to prove that she replaced the things in the refrigerator that she is charging you for and have her provide a receipt of payment and an order number.

I would also let her know that you left one of the parts in the pantry.

I would also ask her to provide proof of payment for the cleaning services and anybody can make it invoice but you need to see where she actually paid for it and what exactly did they clean once you know who the cleaning company is you could call them and ask them some questions such as what did they clean?

What date were they there since you were being charge for a cleaning service.

I don’t think that you can dispute a security deposit. I think the only way that you could do that would be to say that you didn’t end up renting the place or this was a duplicate charge or it was fraud or something like that which none of your criteria meets.

[Author]

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