Landlord unwilling to return cleaning deposit

September 16, 2009 4:00 PM

My former landlord returned substantially less money from the cleaning deposit than expected. Should I bother with small claims court?

I've left my rental home of two years, and I'm now having trouble with the landlord. At the time of move in, I paid a $500 damage deposit, and $125 pet fee, and a $500 refundable(?) cleaning deposit/fee. Check in condition agreement documented the home problems pretty thoroughly. Now, 30 days after move out, she sent a refund that kept the entire $500 depost for cleaning. It stated that she had paid $12 for 99 hours of cleaning.

Some additional information:

- The Rental Agreement is a standard form and says "Non-Refundable Fee". She crossed out the "Non-Refundable" part at the time of signing, changing the text to read "Cleaning". All other correspondence refers to this as a "Cleaning Deposit". Verbally, she said this money would be used for cleaning if the house was not cleaned upon vacating.

- I sincerely believe that I left the house as clean as when I moved in

- The house had been abused by the previous tenants. Carpet riddled with cigarette burns. The hardwood floors are untreated wood painted with wall paint. Holes in doors. Etc. This was not a house of refinement. I have emails to her documenting things we found to be broken, in addition to the move in report that accurately assesses the condition of the house.

- I requested a move out walkthrough on multiple occasions, and she never responded. The assessment that she sent stated that she paid for 99 hours of cleaning. The gap between my opinion (clean as when we moved in) and hers (99 hours of cleaning?!) is vast.

I tried to call to discuss it with her, calmly, and she got very upset and hung up. All correspondence since that time has been in writing.

I've lived in many rentals and never had a problem, so I have no idea what I should do next. Is small claims court worth the trouble? I'm in Oregon if it matters.

posted by monkeystronghold to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

I would go to small claims court on principle. It will probably only cost you about $30 to file a claim, and you are likely to miss a morning of work (assuming you have a 9-5 office gig) in court.
posted by amro at 4:03 PM on September 16, 2009

I used to be a Landlord, and I recommend small claims court. Too many creeps do stuff like this, and should be stopped.
posted by theora55 at 4:08 PM on September 16, 2009 [2 favorites]

You don't state your location, but it is possible that you may be entitled double (or treble) damages if your deposit has been wrongly withheld. Check your local listings.
posted by dersins at 4:09 PM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

if you have moderately clear documentation of the condition of the house when you left, i think you stand a good chance of winning. 99 hrs of cleaning is pretty excessive. i bet no small claims judge will look favorably on that--unless the place was totally trashed. pictures & testimony from a moving co. employee would be great. you even might get more as a penalty.

but getting a judgement in your favor doesn't mean an immediate payout, so it still might be for principle only.
posted by lester at 4:11 PM on September 16, 2009

Best answer: I would send her one final letter, certified mail, stating the facts you've listed here as tersely and emotionlessly as possible. Set a date and tell her if you don't receive [$X] by that date, you'll be filing a claim in small claims court.
posted by peep at 4:12 PM on September 16, 2009 [3 favorites]

oh, yeah. And then do file the claim, assuming she doesn't respond favorably.
posted by peep at 4:12 PM on September 16, 2009

You took pictures of the condition when you moved in, yes?
posted by Justinian at 4:13 PM on September 16, 2009

Do what peep says, for the purpose of documenting your sincere effort to resolve this matter without taking it to court. The reason for this is that you will likely be asked to certify on your claim petition that you did make that effort.
posted by amro at 4:18 PM on September 16, 2009

Do what peep says, for the purpose of documenting your sincere effort to resolve this matter without taking it to court. The reason for this is that you will likely be asked to certify on your claim petition that you did make that effort.

Thirded. The certified letter often gets magical results, in my experience. And, as amro points out, it's another item in your favor if you do have to take it to court.

Make sure you check the local tenant-landlord laws, too. In many states, she's required to provide an itemized list beyond "cleaning."

99 hours. Really. That's twelve eight-hour days. For fuck's sake, we've ripped apart and then completely renovated a portion of our house in fewer hours than that.
posted by desuetude at 4:39 PM on September 16, 2009

Best answer: The problem with small claims is that even if you win it still is hard to reclaim your money. I am currently entering month 13 of small claims trying to reclaim a 6000 dollar deposit from a scumball landlord, and even after winning both trial and appeal they won't pay up, and so I am forced to go through the court to forcefully garnish them, and it's a huge boondoggle of time and wasted productivity at work, not to mention a huge hassle and amount of stress. 600 out of 1100 isn't a terrible return...

I've spent about 300 in the meantime on court fees, liens, and writs, with more for the sheriffs and process servers coming. Go in knowing that even if they lose, they still aren't being forced to pay you the money.

That being said, she broke the law and you will win if you go to court based solely on declining a walkthrough and providing a phoney reciept. It's not right and if you're willing to deal with the hassle they have to as well, and maybe it will prevent them from doing it to others in the future.

It's worth threatening court and filing the paperwork, you can cancel the hearing if they repay you.
posted by Large Marge at 4:52 PM on September 16, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for all of the feedback, everyone. I think it's less about the money than the principal.

When I requested an itemized breakdown of the 99 hours, she just sent a list of things like "vacuumed entire house" and "scrubbed floors". Using these two examples, will a court agree that it's odd to spend hours scrubbing floors that are just painted or washing carpets that are riddled with cigarette burns? (Though we did mop and vacuum when we left, so her hours were spent re-cleaning anyway)

So do we agree that 99 hours is crazy, even if I hadn't cleaned?

An odd addition to this story: the landlord accomplished something impressive in her youth and uses that experience as a professional motivational speaker.
posted by monkeystronghold at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2009

In Oregon, where I live, most landlords impose a "non-refundable cleaning fee". It is only about $75.00 and everyone understands from the beginning of the contract that it is "non-refundable".

Since your contract doesn't state that your cleaning fee was non-refundable your landlord must document what was wrong with how you left the residence and specifically how the condition of the residence was different from how it was when you originally moved in. It doesn't seem like she has done that at all.

If she had to clean for 99 hours she needs to produce photographic proof (before and after) that indicate that the place was left like a pig sty. I am in favor of your pressing the matter and you would be smart to pay a visit to a website in your state for the "usual" rules for tenants and landlords in your state...in order to prepare yourself. Your contract sounds unusual and you might be entitled to more damages if she violated landlord/tenant rules.
posted by naplesyellow at 5:53 PM on September 16, 2009

It might be satisfying for you to do a little research. Call a couple of cleaning companies a get a quote for thoroughly cleaning a hypothetical house matching the description of yours. Forget whether it's silly to clean ruined carpets or scrub painted floors -- get a quote for getting everything washed -- carpets steam-cleaned, oven cleaned, fridge and freezer cleaned, windows washed inside and out, bathroom grout cleaned with a toothbrush, baseboards wiped down, floors mopped.

(I bet it's a two-day job at most.)
posted by desuetude at 6:10 PM on September 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Funnily enough, since she crossed out "Non-refundable" (which is apparently allowed in Oregon), there is nothing specific about "cleaning" deposits that separates them from a regular deposit. This means that you may be entitled to double the amount you are owed, which may be double the entire deposit if none of her invoice items hold up under scrutiny. File small claims.
posted by rhizome at 7:06 PM on September 16, 2009

Find your local tenants' rights org. They may have form demand letters you can send to your landlord. I am about to have to do this because my former landlord hasn't mailed our deposit back and stopped responding to my emails, ugh.
posted by ishotjr at 7:07 PM on September 16, 2009