My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Washington -- Not the seattle area.
(Sorry if the monetary figures are odd, but I did not want to give exacts because it could result in me being personally identified)
The location I leased charges a non refundable cleaning fee of a couple hundred dollars. No idea if this matters, but I imagine this is often used to clean the carpet. They do not do damage deposits. (I imagine because they take more than 21 days to send out a bill)
I had a rather large burn mark on the floor of my studio apartment because a coal from the balcony rolled in under my bed and some other small ones.
The notice for damages says I owe high-hundreds of dollars for replacing the carpet because 20-odd burn marks, along small charges for things like the replacement of lightbulbs, the battery of the smoke detector (this seems odd) and a door stop. I doubt it's consequential, but the amount of actual burn marks was probably around half a dozen and only one of them was not something that couldn't have just been trimmed.
I think a patch for the large burn mark would have been fine. The carpet was definitely new when I moved in and I resided in the apartment for less than one year. It did not seem like there was any reduction for depreciation.
The landlord is corporate, so I imagine they can hire an attorney.
What can I do to make sure I am being charged a reasonable amount?
Should I just pay what I think the damages should be?
Since it's a corporation, I imagine it's all automated and I'll be sent to collections, etc. But I assume I have to actually have a judgement against me in court to have to pay something. I imagine I'd have to pay the attorney's fees for the landlord. Should I just pay everything to avoid court costs because they could be more than the amount they want? What happens if I pay say 50%, or 75% or 90% of the amount?
(Sorry if the monetary figures are odd, but I did not want to give exacts because it could result in me being personally identified)
The location I leased charges a non refundable cleaning fee of a couple hundred dollars. No idea if this matters, but I imagine this is often used to clean the carpet. They do not do damage deposits. (I imagine because they take more than 21 days to send out a bill)
I had a rather large burn mark on the floor of my studio apartment because a coal from the balcony rolled in under my bed and some other small ones.
The notice for damages says I owe high-hundreds of dollars for replacing the carpet because 20-odd burn marks, along small charges for things like the replacement of lightbulbs, the battery of the smoke detector (this seems odd) and a door stop. I doubt it's consequential, but the amount of actual burn marks was probably around half a dozen and only one of them was not something that couldn't have just been trimmed.
I think a patch for the large burn mark would have been fine. The carpet was definitely new when I moved in and I resided in the apartment for less than one year. It did not seem like there was any reduction for depreciation.
The landlord is corporate, so I imagine they can hire an attorney.
What can I do to make sure I am being charged a reasonable amount?
Should I just pay what I think the damages should be?
Since it's a corporation, I imagine it's all automated and I'll be sent to collections, etc. But I assume I have to actually have a judgement against me in court to have to pay something. I imagine I'd have to pay the attorney's fees for the landlord. Should I just pay everything to avoid court costs because they could be more than the amount they want? What happens if I pay say 50%, or 75% or 90% of the amount?
Cleaning and Repairs: Can I Dispute Damage Charges is It Worth It
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