Do I have the right to a walk-through signature?

[sara3t3t]

We have been good renters for many years. We moved here 2 years ago, with excellent references, credit, etc. We wrote out a form for the LL two or three days after we moved in, spelling out any little minor problems we saw....such as a few spots on the carpet, etc.

We were told our lease is not being renewed 90 days before the end of it....which is March 31, 2009. No problem, we did not want to live here anymore anyway. I will tell you the problem, and a legal question, in a moment.

My pressing question here is

They want us to move out, and leave the key, etc BEFORE they do a walk-through. Do I not have thr right to walk through with someone from the office and ahve them sign off that it is al in good condition???? I will give you a quick background why I want such.

Others have moved out, left their places clean, only to find out that the management messes up thier carpets and then claims they have to put in new carpeting. They charged one poor INdian lady $1,000 and she left it in beautiful condition! They figure she is afraid to sue, since she is here on a work visa.

Many of the people in our complex are from India, since we are in the high-tech region of Northern Virginia. My neighbors told me how they were intimidated byt he management and called "Idiots" in the front office when they insisted they tried to get pest control for their apt.

The lady wondered whether the apt had bed bigs, and made the mistake of asking the management. They had a suspect guy come in over the weekend, go in the bedroom, shut the door for five minutes and then come out. They were charged $500 by the office for this. One day later, their own choice of pest control came, and said this was not a proper way to treat for bed bugs: they entire place would have to be fumigated, and in fact, there were no bed bugs or eggs,etc. He did not even charge them! They were ripped off by the management, which they feel made half the money for this bogus "service."
Theyrefused to produce the receipt when these Indian folks asked, saying it was "confidential" and would be kept in their "file." They paid but had no right to a receipt. They paid for nothing....just a sham pest control visit.

NOW I AM PERSONA NON GRATA:

One day, last Sept-October, when I knew I would be out of town, I took my own rent a week early. I spsent about five minutes in the office, gabbing with them about the banks collapsing, etc., and I asked them to put my rent check in the bank that evening, as the finds would not be actually IN there until the next day. NO problem. They assured me they would not get in their cars and go to my bank and try to get the money out but that they would simply deposit the check; I knew this would be fine.

The moment I left, which was around noon on a Thursday, they walked into their back room [as they described it to me on Monday] and put the check through their "machine." This made my check bounce, of course. They forced the issue with me, made me pay $50 to them for giving them a bad check and they made me go and get a cashier's check!

No amount of discussion with the centtral office overseeing this complex would work. I was forced to pay it and now they can say I gave them a bad check. I went online and wrote in what had happened to the Indian people here, and my situation after many fristrating days of trying to get it resolved. I saw their attitude was really no good. I wrote out what I belioeve on Apts.com or some such commentary on apartments for renters.

NOW, with this background/history, I reiterate my original question.

Their word became nothing to me. I saw that none of them were honest, amazingly. As a result, I do not trust them one whit. I believe they will try to do something to the carpet or to damage something and charge us a fortune.

DON'T WE HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO WALK THROUGH WITH THEM and have them point out anything they find wrong, before we give them the key?

I can take pictures and I will, but I would prefer a signed paper from them that everything is good, just as they made us sign off when we moved in.

Two issues here.

First the check. They have every right to submit a check immediately. Once you write a check it had better be good right then. The funds have to be available immediately. They have no responsibility to hold it for any length of time, and making the check post-dated is useless since the bank will cash it anyways. Nowadays all checks are submitted electronically. (Your bank probably sent you a statement about that a while back.) You wrote a check that had insufficent fund available. You have to pay the NSF fee for that. In future, never write a check without funds available. Any check written without available funds can be turned over to the police department for charges on passing a bad check. It is illegal. If you know you are leaving and the funds will be available the next day, either slide the check under the door after hours so they won't get it until the following day, or put it in the mail. Make sure they don't get the check until after the funds are available.

Now the walk through. Few states require that a LL do a walk through inspection with a tenant. Check your state law under LL -Tenant law, to see if you have this right. If you don't see it in writing, they don't have to do a move out inspection with you or give you anything in writing. Even if they did sign off on something right then, VA law gives them 45 days to inspect the unit and return your deposit. They could easily find something else after the short move out inspection and charge you for that. You would have to fight it in court. Many move out inspection sheets have a clause on the bottom that says something to the effect "This is not a comprehensive list of damages" or "Other damages may be found during the state permitted inspection period and will be deducted from your deposit". This ensures that they are not limited to the few damages they find in that 5 minute walh through.

If you have no right to a walk through, how best to protect yourself? Several things. Clean the unit very well. Make sure the bathroom and kitchen are spotless. Make sure you clean appliances inside and out, under range tops, the underside of vent fans, tops and backs, and even underneath them. Wipe out cabinets. Check for items that have fallen behind drawers and over top of cabinets. Leave no trash behind and nothing large for the trash company to remove. Carefully fill in any nail holes and touch up paint if you are required to. Take dated digital photos of everything (inside toilets, stove, and fridge, under stovetop, show underside of vent fans, show all walls and carpets, show windows. Make sure all window coverings are cleaned and rehung if any were there when you moved in. Submit a forwarding address in writing to send your deposit.

f you do not get an itemized statement within 45 days, write a demand letter by certified mail to get the refund. If you get the statement, go over it item by item and post any disputes here. Doing these things before you leave should help you if you need to take them to court over any phoney charges later.

[sara3t3t]

The management left a note on our door a couple of weeks ago, with a form inside to stick in with our last month's rent March 1. It gives us the option to "hire" their people to clean everything.

The paper says if we want to clean everything, just make sure it is in "reasonably clean" condition. But then, inside with that paper, they supply a long list of their charges for cleaning base boards, shower tile, you name it.
The charges are of course ridiculous. It is all geared to get naother $85 out of people, and then they keep their deposit. When I moved in, I had to pay a $200 cleaning free and was told that is for when we moved out. I have to find this among my papers, as it does not appear on my rental agreement.

It is such a long list that it would add up to maybe $600 if they wanted to charge me for cleaning I did not do. To me, reasonably clean means reasonably clean. It does not mean I have to go wipe off all the wwindow sills, clean the window glass and do the base boards, etc. It means I leave the kitchen and bathrroms as spotless as possible, and of course, vacuum....

Reasonably clean does not mean deep cleaning, for which the list implies I will be charged. I am thinking to go ahead and pay the $85 they want to "hire" their folks. The paper says then I do not have to clean anything. I shall retain a copy for court should I need to go there.

I have kept it clean, of course, because we do not like to live in a dirty place. I will vacuum once the movers have pulled everything out, and take photos. I will follow your advice.

Of course, I realized your advice on the postdated check is correct, but I let it slip because I trusted the gals in the office. too bad. their word meant nothing. So wehther the people are sprouting a halo or not, I will never give another check unless the funds are sitting right there. even if the bank is failing the very next day, which Wachovia was. It was only because of the news on this that I wanted to get my rent paid before th bank closed its doors and I could not even access it.

Last Sept-October no one knew if the banks were going to shut their doors and people would be lined up outside....this is exactly what was happening in California, which is the only darned reason I even gave them a check a week earlier than the renet was due. but I have learned. Thanks.

Sorry Sara, but if you allowed dirt and dust to accumulate on your windows, window sills, and baseboards while you lived there, you need to clean them off. You are supposed to take care of the unit while you live there. That means keeping it clean. You are supposed to leave it clean. Management should not have to come in and clean every unit after every tenant. If they have to clean after you leave, you get charged the cleaning fees. Fauilure to clean items is not wear and tear.

Good answers here! I face the exact same issue but from a sightly different angle.