Andria vs Douchebag Landlord: it's on!

The last few weeks in my old apartment, the landlord came by to check out the condition of the apartment. He sent me a note saying that major damages had been assessed. These damages included things like mild caulking erosion in the bathroom, a leaky pipe in the kitchen (which we reported months before, and nothing was done about it!), ceiling damage (which we also had reported, because I was worried it might start leaking, and nothing was done about it), smoke damage (the ex smoked like a chimney), wall damage from where I had put up a doggie gate, and scratches on the front door.

He also proceeded to tell me that items were missing, like a door closure, and a panel on the dishwasher. Which I swear, I have never seen either of these things in the entire time I lived there. He did not want to hear that, and didn't even acknowledge it when I told him that in writing, and on his voicemail. Douche.

I conceed the dog gate wall damage. Maybe a couple of scratches on the front door. Maaaaybe the smoke damage, which could basically be resolved cleaning, which I did. The rest: wear and tear, and not my responsibility!

Even in the stress and general chaos of moving, I left that place sparkling! My mom was good enough to help with the cleaning, while I was supervising movers and carting stuff from old place to new place. It looked amazing when I left it. I thought that that was the end of it.

Today, I received a letter in the mail, asking for over $1500 to cover "repairs" to the apartment. There's a longer list of stuff I'm being charged for, including damage to the closet (which was ghetto from the first day we moved in, and all I could use half of it for was a vacuum cleaner) damage to the bedroom walls, a cleaning charge for dog food and broken glass (seriously, he must have found a couple of kibbles and shards of glass in an unaccessible corner somewhere, because we cleaned the crap out of the kitchen!). I'm being charged for "loose or broken towel racks". They were not broken! They were not even loose! He just wanted to replace them, like he wanted to redo the closet. RAGE.

I'm being charged for the "missing" door closure, and for the "missing" dishwasher panel, both of which never existed. I'm being charged for all the wear and tear that he neglected to address while I was living there. I obviously can't afford this, so...the war is on! Being unemployed so far this summer gives me ample time to research my rights as a tenant and figure out how I can get out of this, and hopefully get him in trouble in the process for trying to hose me unfairly.

Oh, and in addition to me swinging by to drop off the payment, he'd like the keys back. (The keys, four sets of them no less, I returned to the Super on April 30th, when I moved!) RAGE, RAGE, RAGE!

This could get ugly. Hopefully I come out on top. Wish me luck, folks - stay tuned for updates.