A Letter To My Ex-Landlady

[mermaid]

Note - my ex-landlady found a way to screw me out of every last penny of my deposit when I moved out...and then some! Below is a letter I wrote her, and included in a mailing with the final check to her.

Suzy (Last Name Withheld To Protect The Guilty)
Pointsouth Apartments
Austin, Texas


Dear Suzy,

Enclosed please find the check covering the entire amount remaining due you, per your item sheet sent to me. I noticed you found a way to make some extra money off me. Hooray for you.

Instead of just charging me my last month’s rent, $425,…you charged me a “re-letting fee” of $505…a difference of eighty dollars. Additionally, the difference between what my pro-rated rent would have been through the re-let date of April 8…and the amount actually credited to me, because of the deal you made with the new people came to approximately $40. So you made an extra $120 off me. Last dime you will make off me! Hope you enjoy it.

I also sincerely doubt that many of the items on your list were actually, in fact, necessary…or that they actually cost you the listed prices, since most, if not all of them, would have been carried out by your own maintenance people, who are already on your payroll. Whatever. It’s not worth arguing about. Again, congratulations to you. I expected little else considering the complete lack of concern or restitution shown me by you when my car windows were smashed in, on your property, on four separate occasions. These incidents cost me a total of $800 in auto window glass, as I had a $200 deductible (the lowest amount possible) per incident, on my auto insurance.

But never let it be said of me that I broke that lease. I never did. Let it never be said of me that I was ever late with a rent payment, or that I ever bounced a check, because I never did. Let it never be said of me that I failed to do exactly what I said I would do…or that I was legally obligated to do. I could have skipped out. I could have broken that lease. What could you really have done? Not a whole lot, really. But I did the decent, honest, and right thing.

Even when the chips were down for me…and there were plenty of those times over the three years of my tenancy in your property…I ALWAYS FOUND A WAY!! I always found a way to come up with monies legally owed you. And on time.

Quite frankly, Suzy…say what you will about me…y’all don’t deserve tenants as honest, determined, hardworking, and trustworthy as I was for three years. I expect that if I am ever in need of a reference for a landlord, you will tell them that I was never late with a rent payment. I expect you will tell them that I never bounced a check, that I always did what I said I would, and that I kept up my end of the lease…because it’s all true.

I doubt you even read this far, but, if you have…I hope you feel really good about ripping me off for an extra $120. And I hope you enjoy that money. Because it’s the last dime you will get out of me.

[MADem]

1. Good letter! n/t

[BR_Parkway]

2. And send a copy to the State Real Estate Commission, let them

see if it was all legal and proper or not. At the least, you'll make her life just as simple and easy as she's made yours.

[tridim]

3. I was under the impression that they can't charge you more

than your security deposit and for "normal wear and tear". I guess I've just been lucky with my rentals, I've never had to pay more than $50 upon moving out. It's probably worth filing a complaint with the BBB, but not worth taking her to small claims court.

[Gyre]

4. I like your letter alot!

Also never let it be said that "you aren't sincere".:)

Gyre

[Darth_Kitten]

5. Good for you!

:applause:

[Wapsie B]

6. I find it amazing

as to how some landlords view property ownership as an entitlement program to make $$ without having to put a dime into those properties as upkeep and repair.

[LeftyMom]

7. I'd CC the property owner

or send them a separate letter explaining the overbilling. Include photos of the apt at time of move-out, if you took them. (If you didn't, please remember to do so in the future as a CYA measure.)

Your word-of-mouth value as a previous tenant is worth more than the $120 they stole from you.

Also consider writing to your state officials about tightening up the laws that prevent this sort of thing. In CA landlords need to show reciepts for repairs over a certain amount ($100, I think) deducted from the deposit. Maybe somebody could introduce a law like that in Texas.

[jburton]

8. OMG!!!! I lived there too!

PointSouth on Willow Creek, right?

I lived there summer of '99 during an internship in Austin.

Biggest shithole apartment complex!

They nickel & dimed me for all sorts of things after I moved out. Even charged me $80 for a cigarette burn on the carpet, even though I NEVER let anybody smoke in my apartment.

By the time they decided to do that I was living out of state, so I blew 'em off. They eventually turned it over to a collection agency, and it is the only blemish on my credit history today. Thankfully, it hasn't prevented me from getting approval for any other places.

Check this out:

http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/TX-Austin-Point-South-Apartments.html

[mermaid]

10. Right-O!!

PointSouth on Willow Creek. That's the place.
2200 willow Creek Drive. Right behind the Diamond Shamrock.

I lived in apartment 416. Wouldn't it be wild if we'd lived in the same UNIT??

So they screwed you, too? I'm not surprised. The place WAS a shithole. The only reason I lived there was because it was cheap, and they would allow dogs.

If I coulda found anywhere else, I'd have moved.

I'm betting you know Suzy, then...and Monica, too. And you probably remember Suzy's last name, which I withheld.

I gotta check out the link...

[jburton]

15. I don't remember the unit number

I was in my last year of college at the time, and lived in several different cities/apartments over a one year period.

It was one of the "studio" apartments with the sort of loft-thing upstairs. And I had a huge power transformer about 10 feet from my door.

The one nice thing about it was it was an end unit, so it was very quiet considering the overall complex, but I might have just been lucky with my neighbor.

They were one of the only places that offered a 3 month lease, which is exactly what I needed. Also, the Austin apartment market was super hot at the time (1999) so I took what I could get.

The place was so nickel-and-dime: compared to the region the rent was cheaper and the deposit was very low. But once you get in there you're screwed: old air conditioning units and broken window frames (higher electric bills), always broken laundry machines (gotta make a trip somewhere else), TONS of move-out charges.

Overall the place taught me several things to look for when apartment searching:

1. Tour common areas like the laundry and mail area.
2. Ask if the office accepts packages, so I don't have to go to the damn post office to pick up a package after I get home.
3. Look at the actual unit, not a "sample" unit. This is NON-NEGOTIABLE.
4. Walk along the entire parking lot, even if you don't own a car. Look for broken car glass remains, etc. Also, look to see if the dumpsters need to be emptied.

[mermaid]

13. Thanks!

I read all the reviews, most of them agreed with me. I also wrote my own review, the title of which is "How Do You Spell S-L-U-M??"

I registered there as DU_Mermaid, because someone had already gotten "Mermaid." I wanted people from here to know EXACTLY who wrote that review.

If I had been thinking about it, I might've picked a different name, one which my ex-landlady would have known, when she saw it...IMMEDIATELY who'd written that review. But there's enough clues in there, I think if she reads it, she'll figure out who wrote it.

[LostinVA]

9. You HAVE to contest this. Trust me, they'll back down

Under EVERY state's law, the landlord has to itemize EXACTLY what they charged you, and you can have it mediated. They can't charge you crazy stuff, like charging money for changing light bulbs and for normal wear and tear. They can NOT charge you for this. Refuse to pay the nutty stuff, and insist on your check ASAP.

An example of what happened to me once: I moved back to NC from a horrible year in FL. My deposit had been $300, and they not only didn't send me a deposit refund check, they charged me $150 for new carper! Why? Because my cats messed it up. Wrongo. The carpet was nasty when I moved in -- very old and ratty, and they had promised to replace it before I moved in. They didn't. It had holes in it, dry rotted, etc. I took major photographs, and had the date time-stamped on them. My cats use scratching posts, btw. Always have. I took lots of photos when I left, too. So, when I received the letter, I sent copies of the photos, crossed out what bogus things i refused to pay for, and asked for my refund check as per state law. I got a letter saying they would sue me. I sent another letter with copies of FL statutes and threatened to sue them. I got a check back in three days.

Re: the "reletting fee." Did you give the proper notice? If so, they can't do that. Even if you didn't live there, they can charge you just the rent, unless you turn off the utilities.

[mermaid]

11. No Good

I didn't give notice, I gave them a letter on the day I moved out. In the letter I promised to keep current the rent until the end of the lease, and I followed through with that. but I turned off the utilities. So I'm screwed.

It's not really worth it...I'll just pay it and know that they will never get another dime outta me or anyone else I can influence, who is in the market for an Austin apartment.

Trust me, if you're in Austin, you don't want to rent from PointSouth.

[Floogeldy]

12. You left out "Go fuck yourself"

I think that would have been a nice touch.

B-)

[mermaid]

14. Well...

I WANTED to put that in there, but I was trying to maintain a modicum of politeness in my letter, anyway.

I got my own, though, I wrote up a crappy review of the place...all true, too...and hopefully it will discourage some people from moving in there.