Mazy_IHB
New member
[quote author="gypsyuma" date=1250829651]I don't know if that is the route I would have gone. Not to hurt your feelings, but the kitchen cabinets and carpet were a disaster in those photos, so can only imagine the appearance in person. I would have done the cleaning myself personally. Your landlord probably has relationships with contractors and could likely get them to make receipts for whatever amount he wants. I would have cleaned myself, and then took the video. But hey, that is just me.</blockquote>
Oh my, my feelings are not that fragile to be hurt by this, haha! Just FYI, the cabinet picture is the disaster it is because of the cheap, low quality paint they used to begin with. You can touch the paint on cabinet with your finger and it comes off. Also for the carpet and cabinet pics, bear in mind that he looked around and took the pictures from the areas in worst condition (and you can see that the worst he could find with regards of wall paint was a 1/4 inch spot on a wall, which BTW went away by a simple 2-second wipe). Of course if you see these scattered pictures, you would assume that it's like these throughout, which is not the case, and that's why I will be photographing/taping the whole unit inch by inch so that he won't be able to fool any one else with his 5 selective pics in case we ended up in court. With the exception of that small area which was underneath our kids dining table, the rest of the carpet is very clean.
I really don't think it would help if we try to take care of it ourselves since I'm sure he will come up with something somewhere to take a bite of our deposit. Also, as per DCA guidelines and based on our duration of occupancy, we shouldn't be held responsible for more than 1/3 of the total cost of painting to account for normal wear and tear and the useful life rule. If we do the painting ourselves, we will have to pay it in full. Finally, he cannot charge us whatever he wants since again as per DCA, all deductions should be "reasonable" for the services done. He is more than welcome to come up with a $900 phony invoice for a $450 paint job (of which he can only take 1/3 from our deposit anyway), and he risks getting sued in small claim court. I have made that clear to him.
Knowledge is power - Many thanks to IHB for all the help.
Oh my, my feelings are not that fragile to be hurt by this, haha! Just FYI, the cabinet picture is the disaster it is because of the cheap, low quality paint they used to begin with. You can touch the paint on cabinet with your finger and it comes off. Also for the carpet and cabinet pics, bear in mind that he looked around and took the pictures from the areas in worst condition (and you can see that the worst he could find with regards of wall paint was a 1/4 inch spot on a wall, which BTW went away by a simple 2-second wipe). Of course if you see these scattered pictures, you would assume that it's like these throughout, which is not the case, and that's why I will be photographing/taping the whole unit inch by inch so that he won't be able to fool any one else with his 5 selective pics in case we ended up in court. With the exception of that small area which was underneath our kids dining table, the rest of the carpet is very clean.
I really don't think it would help if we try to take care of it ourselves since I'm sure he will come up with something somewhere to take a bite of our deposit. Also, as per DCA guidelines and based on our duration of occupancy, we shouldn't be held responsible for more than 1/3 of the total cost of painting to account for normal wear and tear and the useful life rule. If we do the painting ourselves, we will have to pay it in full. Finally, he cannot charge us whatever he wants since again as per DCA, all deductions should be "reasonable" for the services done. He is more than welcome to come up with a $900 phony invoice for a $450 paint job (of which he can only take 1/3 from our deposit anyway), and he risks getting sued in small claim court. I have made that clear to him.
Knowledge is power - Many thanks to IHB for all the help.