It’s common to pay a security deposit when moving into an apartment. It’s also common for the apartment company to try to avoid repaying the security deposit when the renter moves out.

In today’s story, a renter is determined to get the security deposit back.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

Charged me an extra month and don’t want to return my deposit? But why lie when I have the receipts …

The contract of the apartment I’ve been living for the past year recently ended.

I had however forgotten of the 60 days written move out notice until I was reminded by management 10 days before I turned in my notice.

Though it is specified in the contract and it is my responsibility as a tenant to maintain them, I was still livid by the fact that they didn’t have the courtesy to remind me all the three times they contacted me about renewing my contract and me verbally declining.

All three times, they said they’d take a note of it and me being the fool that I am believed them.

It’s still possible to get the deposit back.

Since I did not provide the 60 days move out notice in writing, I was forced to pay an extra month of rent that regardless of my moaning and crying was not waved.

Throughout my panic, they kept reminding me that it was in the contract and that they couldn’t do anything.

Since I had to pay an extra month, I decided I was going to do everything in my power to get my deposit back, queuing the malicious compliance.

I went through the entire contract.

Let’s see what the contract said about the inspection.

The contract specified that I was allowed to be present during the inspection as long as I provided a written notice in advanced (no date specified) and that I had the right to any information extracted from the inspection.

The contract also specified that the apartment had to be left in the same condition it was received and that I was responsible for any cleaning fees from services they’d have to use.

Before I actually start the juicy part of the story I have to mention that I took detailed pictures and videos of the apartment when I moved in.

Unfortunately mine was incredibly dirty, even food on the carpets. I requested it to be cleaned but they never did anything so I took care of it since I am terrified of confrontation lol but I still saved and recorded anything that was not okay regardless of how mild it was.

OP was determined to be there for the inspection.

The day I read the contract, I emailed them requesting to be present during the inspection and that I wanted a copy of everything obtained from that inspection to compre with my notes.

They didn’t respond that day so I took upon me to email them everyday for the next 4 days until the got back to me with the following reply,

“Per the rental agreement section ## Move-out inspection You may be present at move-out inspection if you notify us in advance in writing of your request. [my name], you turned your keys into the drop box on 5/30/22 and never requested a walk thru. The walk thru inspection was already completed this morning.”

So I obviously forwarded all of my previous emails asking if those were not considered “in writing.”

Turns out the apartment lied about the inspection date.

They then offered to “re-do” the inspection with me present but I was out of town so I requested all the data they obtained from it instead to which they agreed.

To this day I have not received anything from the inspection but I did find out that they didn’t actually do it until three days after they started they did on that email via the bill they sent charging me cleaning fees and no deposit back.

I was like, okay… since you’re not going to send me what I asked for I’m going to send you what I have…

OP had a few demands.

I highlighted the part where they lied to me about the inspection date, attached pictures of how I received the apartment compared to how I left it (very clean) – and I made sure to include their time stamps.

Advised that per the contract there is no reason for them to charge me cleaning fees since it was in better condition than received.

I also demanded my deposit back and sent them receipts of all products I used to clean the apartment , including a new vacuum so they could refund me at their earliest convenience or I’d contact corporate directly.

I also advised that I’d I send them all the communication we’d ever had, the lies they’ve told me, and the rest of images and videos I have of the apartment.

The apartment company backed down.

I honestly have no idea if I would’ve gotten anywhere contacting corporate but it doesn’t matter because within three days I got my deposit back and got refunded for everything I spent on cleaning supplies.

I did leave a review in every site I could find but the Google one got removed for some reason.

Always take before pictures when moving into an apartment. That’s the big lesson here!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

The apartment might’ve been trying to do something illegal.

Don’t let them get away with taking the Google review down!

Here’s a similar story…

Landlords are not trustworthy.

It’s vital to take pictures and get everything in writing.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.