Some background: last year we moved into a rather dingy apartment; plus the previous tenants didn’t clean. Landlord hired a cleaning service that did a superficial job (no mopping, no scrubbing, still food in fridge). It is doubtful that anything beyond a full renovation could have gotten the ingrained dirt out of the surfaces anyway. We took some pictures of the state of the floors and sills.

We just moved out; we thoroughly cleaned the apartment, well beyond what her cleaning service did. We asked her to confirm the status upon move-out; she didn’t.

The next day she e-mails us saying that the apartment needs further cleaning and that we will be billed for cleaning service.

…

So, I’ve talked to previous tenants and she seems to have a pattern of improperly charging cleaning fees (and being abusive in general). Now, I feel pretty confident that we can win in small claims court because the parts that she says need cleaning are obviously wear-and-tear damage; I have pictures to prove the dingy state of the apartment upon move-in; and her e-mail trail doesn’t cast her in a good light. I’m also willing to spend the time and filing fees to win this because justice must be done.

Any advice? One idea I had disputed by some of my comrades was to send a mass e-mail to all the tenants she includes on her old mass e-mails asking if any of them have had similar experiences and to provide details if they did. (I am assuming few of her previous tenants would have bothered to go through small claims in lieu of a $100 cleaning bill, even if they were in the right).

Topics: cleaning, moving, landlord, tenant, small claims court