Annoying apartment stuff

[thistlechaser]

In hopes of getting my deposit back, I've been cleaning my apartment from top to bottom for a couple weeks now. I've cleaned the ceiling (really, I dusted it and made sure no cobwebs were on it). I cleaned the floor. I cleaned every little thing in between.

And yet I still won't be getting my full deposit back. Not unless I pull out the fridge and the range and clean under/behind them. Seriously. How am I supposed to move the fridge? And I wouldn't think the range could even be pulled out! It must be hooked into the cabinet/counters somehow...

Plus, since I have a cat, they're going to use a blacklight on the carpet to look for pee. That's fine with me, as she's never once peed outside of the box... except google tells me it picks up saliva as well, which means it will show where she had hairballs. They told me if the blacklight picks up anything, they'll have to replace the carpet and do some kind of treatment to the floor.

Sigh. I really feel like this is a scam. I've lived here two years. How can they not expect there to be some wear and tear and some cleaning needed? It's probably stated in that 55 page lease I signed that you have to give it back in the same condition you got it in.

I'm tired of being an adult.

Comments

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that feels pretty scammy. Our fridge and range can be pulled out -- they're not hooked in to anything -- but I guess that's no reason why yours might not be.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I was thinking, would a new tenant even pull them out for some reason? How would they know if there was dust there?

But I guess I can wiggle them and see if they'll pull out like yours. Maybe they're on wheels or something! :P

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

That's ridiculous. They should spare you the trouble and just say whatever you do, we'll keep part of the money, that's our business plan.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's just what they should do.

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeeeeah, that's some bullshit. I've never had an apartment pull that on me. The blacklight also picks up all kinds of weird shit, I had one apartment where I was using my own blacklight to figure out where my cat had peed (fair enough) so I could spotbot it, and there was this HUGE circle on the carpet like someone had spilled paint. It was perfectly round, though. I didn't have to pay for them to replace the carpet though, because that was the apartment where my upstairs neighbor somehow drunkenly turned on her dishwasher with a fork stuck in the seal, thus making it rain indoors in my apartment.

However! It is true that you can pull a range out, and it's not a bad idea. When I bought my house, it was a foreclosure, and when they took the old range out to put in the new one there was a TON of crud behind there... and SOME OF THE CRUD WAS MOVING. AIIIIIIGH, AAAAAAAAAAAAH. So I can get why they want it cleaned out back there.

BUT THE FRIDGE, SERIOUSLY, WHO DOES THAT, OH MY GOD.

Also, was there not a separate pet deposit? If not, that's actually pretty impressive, most places down here charge a separate pet deposit, which is not really even a deposit, because it's never refundable. It always annoyed me, but to be fair, Penny is also the first cat I've ever had that DID NOT for some reason, at some time, pee on the carpet.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, pet deposit is 50% more on top of your regular deposit. Not only that, we have PET RENT. In my new place, I have to pay $40 a month for my cat. If I had a second PERSON living there, there would be no extra charge. Such a scam...

I've done a lot of googling since last night, and apparently blacklights pick up some cleaning fluids as well (different color than pee). Do you recall if your big circle was bright blue/silver? That's the color for cleaning stuff. (Pee is yellow-green glow.)

I've cleaned the hairball spots so much, I'm hoping they'll show as the cleaning fluid color instead of body fluids... and that the people doing the lightwork will know the difference.

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

Did the current place have a pet deposit? Because I would definitely argue that even if they DO find hairball spots and decide to replace the carpet, that shouldn't come out of your regular deposit, it should come out of the pet deposit. Because that was the whole point of having the separate pet deposit, right?

But also seriously, my old cat Midge was at the end of her life at my last apartment, and I am pretty sure there is no version of cat effluvia that she did not at one point get on that carpet, and I STILL GOT BACK MY DEPOSIT, so this place is scammy as hell.

I had the pet rent too, that seems like it's a new thing (since I moved here) and it is SUPER OBNOXIOUS, I totally agree. I also feel like people with like, one calm pet are being punished for the damage caused by assmunches who kept six rottweilers in a one bedroom. ...Or for people who had a cat at the end of its life and got all kinds of cat effluvia on the carpet. SHIT I AM THE ASSHOLE HERE I GUESS.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

In my googling about blacklights last night, I found so many stories of people saying "my pet never peed on the rug, but my potty-training toddler peed all over the apartment". Why should people with kids have to pay some kind of special deposit, too? I bet kids cause a lot more damage than pets.

Every X years (depending on your state) the apartment complex is required to change the carpets, so maybe you got lucky and they didn't charge you because they had to change them anyway? Most places it's 3 years, but California is 8.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

Normal wear and tear shouldn't impact a deposit...unless terms are specifically in the lease. It does sound like they take advantage!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping it will fall under normal wear (for the carpet at least), but I'm suspecting it won't.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

" I really feel like this is a scam."

I've never known anyone to get it all back. I hope you're the exception!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I hope so as well, but I'm not holding my breath.

[wow-hazmat.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever gotten an apartment deposit back; I kind of just consider them a loss.

Pet rents suck majorly, especially since it's always the same whether you have a big dog, a small cat, or a gerbil in a cage. :/

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

And they count fish too! Crazy... How they don't charge for a second (or third) human in your apartment I don't know.