Hi all, would really appreciate thoughtful feedback on this issue.
I've lived in the same "luxury" apartment complex for almost two years now. The first six months were fantastic, then the property was bought by a new real estate investment company and everything went downhill. Maintenance calls took days to be completed or were never completed at all, pool was never cleaned, mailboxes were broken and not repaired, etc. In April of this year we came home to fund putty on the walls of our apartment. When we contacted property management we were told some painters entered the wrong apartment by mistake. The painters returned several days later and painted over the putty. We then realized that they dropped paint onto my leather sofa. So I contact property management to tell them and they say they will go out to the apartment to view the damage. When they view the damage, they attempt to clean the sofa and cause further damage. They never asked my permission to clean the sofa and I'm confident I could have removed the paint spots but I wanted them to view the damage first. So I contact property management about the sofa damage and am repeatedly told they will deal with it but no one will call me back. They change property managers and I contact the new manager and explain the situation. He asks for photos, which I sent to him, and promises to follow up. He never does. Finally, I write a letter to the COO of the real estate investment company and CC our regional manager and local property manager and send it certified mail. I detail the issue, explain that this is a used sofa and I think $500 is a fair amount to be reimbursed so that I can replace my sofa with another used leather sofa. I also mention in the letter that we endured a water leak for ELEVEN WEEKS while property management and maintenance repeatedly tried to repair a tub leak with caulk. This water leak soaked my master bedroom closet for weeks ok end (we only have one shower so we couldn't stop using it). I entered numerous maintenance requests; sometimes they were addressed, sometimes not, and it took eleven weeks for property management to finally call a real contractor and fix the issue. So I include that in the letter and explain that I paid full market rent for those eleven weeks despite the fact that I was dealing with a water leak which was not being addressed. After the letter I got a call back from the property manager all in a huff who tells me that he always intended to reimburse me for the sofa but he has to bask his boss about concessions on the rent for the 11 weeks we dealt with the leak. He says he'll call me back that afternoon. A week later, I haven't heard from him. I call him yesterday, he isn't available. My husband goes by the office and speaks wth him, property manager says he has to type up a letter for me to sign and he will follow up with me later. I send husband back into the office (I was at work) to hand the phone to the property manager and I ask when I can expect to receive this letter. I asked will I receive it tomorrow (which is now today). He assures me I will.
So here is my concern - obviously I have pissed off the entire property management (even though I have been polite and reasonable every time). I'm moving in a few weeks and I'm very concerned that they will try to hold on to my deposit or invent reasons to backcharge us even though we have caused no damage to the apartment. The apartment is 30+ years old and previous tenants had caused plenty of wear and tear. is this worth being concerned about? This entire experience has been miserable. What do I do if they refuse to return my deposit? Or should I be confident they will release it just to be rid of their most annoying tenant?
TL:DR Landlord damaged my property and has given me the runaround for seven months on reimbursement. Obviously I've pissed them off so what do I do if they refuse to return my deposit when I move?!