Stupid Stupid Apartment Lady!!! [Long Vent]

emmypants · June 2009

Brett moved out of his apartment on May 21, 2 days before the wedding. He had turned in a 30 day notice on April 20th and his lease was offically up on May 24. He had it all cleaned out and ready to have the carpets cleaned & the final walk through done. The lady never called us back to do a walk through, was never in her office when we'd try to take the keys over. I called her every day before our honeymoon to try and set this up. While we are on our honeymoon she called and said he is being charged daily for the keys and asked if he still lived there. I called and said "No, you never returned our calls. We left messages." Well she "never got them" Meanwhile she called Brett and said "I know you moved out, I've been showing it, I need the keys." So why in the heck is she asking me if he still lives there???

She refused to take the keys from me since I wasn't on his lease, even though we are married now and before the lease was up, but whatever. Brett went to take her the keys and she wasn't there so he left them in the other office. She got them and called him to make sure they are the real keys. Yes you idiot they are the real keys and he got quite verbal with her which is funny because he is painfully quiet LOL. This was last Wednesday. I just got off the phone with her and she asked, "Did I get the keys back?" *insert facepalm here* I was like "Don't you remember him swearing at you, or do you get that often?" She said "oh yeah, I do have them, it'll be another week on the deposit."

Holy $hit, he moved out over a MONTH ago and they still haven't done the final walk through. Which according to Idaho state law, they must do a walk through within 7 days of the apartment being vacated. Now, math isn't my strong point, but I think May 21 was longer than 7 days ago.

My friend is taking them to small claims court for her deposit. I'm thisclose to doing it myself, well, Brett because I'm not on the lease, haha. This will be the FIFTH time they have been taken and they have never won. This woman, I'm amazed she can get out of bed in the morning. And [of course] they aren't memebers of the BBB and the apartment owner is a total a-hole and doesn't seem to care that his apartments are being badmouthed verbally and on CraigsList. Can you file a complaint with the BBB if they aren't members? He is the freaking broker of a huge real estate company too. Apparently he doesn't care because we didn't buy our house through his firm.

I hate people!

And how has your day been? Smile Not sure if it's a nation wide thing, but at our Carino's tonight, it's "Wine Down Wednesday" with half price bottles of wine... I think I know whats for dinner!

bayhunter6 · June 2009

Hmm... I work for an apartment complex in Florida and some of the laws are different here, but here, the 30 days to return the deposit doesn't start until the keys are actually returned so they are probably within their rights by the law. Now, you could contest that, saying that they weren't available to turn the keys in, but in that case, you could have left something in writing saying they were in the apartment or left in the other office, most likely. It could go both ways in court, depending on who the judge has a tendency to favor. That definitely sucks though and is unprofessional, but it's most likely not wasting money on the filing fees for small claims court -- the filing fees here would be more than your deposit, most likely.

Yes, you can file with the BBB if the company is not a member. Honestly filing with the BBB does very little good because most people don't check it before renting an apartment but you are certainly within your rights to do so.

I'm not trying to sound like you're wrong -- obviously I don't know the whole story. I just wanted to let you know from the insight I have so you don't waste money on filing fees, etc, if you are going to get the deposit back in a week anyway. Good luck!

emmypants · June 2009

It's so weird how different states vary in laws. I check and for Idaho, it's 30 days from moving out. But I guess since we still haven't done a walk through, it doesn't matter. Darn. I just hope we get the dumb thing back and we'll be out of her hair and she'll be out of ours. We were going to leave the keys with the other realty office, but this gal is so flakey we wanted to make sure to hand deliver them. He did end up leaving them with the other office though.

Thats what I thought about small claims, but it's only $35 to file and you can get up to 3x the amount back that you are seeking. I always thought it cost an arm & a leg myself!! They have yet to win a case, but I'd really prefer not to go that route. It's only $500, it's not like it's $1,500 or anything. I want to smack her, haha.

I think I might file with the BBB in hope that they'd step in, I've never done anything with them before, so I'll look into it.

Thank you for responding back!! It's nice to get other perspective, espically from someone in that field. How is your real estate market? They are building houses like they are going out of style here. Yet they just sit there and never sell...

[ETA] Your wedding pictures are beautiful!!!!

lorimw1 · June 2009

I love dealing with incapable people, it's so much fun isn't it? Angry

I moved out of my place to move in with DH after we got engaged last May. Everything went fine, walk through was great & the guy said I should have my deposit in a few weeks. So 2 months later, I call seeing where it is. Apparently, the building was bought from the bank June 1st and the new owners weren't responsible for security deposits before June 1st. Um, bank? Why weren't the tenants made aware the building was owned by a bank now? What happen to the owner I gave my $800 (plus interest over 3 years) security deposit to??

I swear, once we sell this condo & rent in the burbs, I am only dealing with BBB rental properties!!

emmypants · June 2009

Surprise Wow that is awful!!! You'd think the bank could spare that money. People never fail to amaze me, it's like, how do you get up in the morning?? Is it hard? haha.

I checked with the BBB and only 2 out of 15+ real estate companies are with the BBB. That's scary I think. Luckily ours was with the BBB.

Stupid Stupid Apartment Lady!!! [Long Vent]

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