William H Conrelius

Allow me to tell you a story.
I moved into 201 Pine St SE, in January 2012. my first clue should have been should have been when I sent in my February rent check. With the check I included a formal letter informing the landlord (LL) of several issues, (dripping sink in the kitchen and bathtub, doorknobs that had fallen off doors, the blinds that fell off of the window when I tried to open them the day I moved in, the blinds that would not open, wall outlets not working properly). I did not hear from the LL the next day, or the day after or even the week after. Only 2 months later the LL called me about turning the heat off and the swamp cooler on, did he mention the letter.
The swamp cool was turned on, the maintenance man came to the apartment to fix it, and decided it needed a new motor (took 2 hrs) and turned it on, the swamp cooler spit out tons of rust, into the house. For the next week I was cleaning up rust that continually fell from the vent. Mind you, It wasn’t until I turned on the swamp cooler several weeks later that I heard the awful squealing noise coming from it. It was so bad that you could hear it bouncing off the building across the street. Even worse, is that it wasn’t even a constant noise, it would stop for a while and just when you think the coast is clear BAM! it would start up again.
I immediately called the LL to inform him of the issue. Two days later the LL called me saying his maintenance man had driven by, and that he didn’t hear anything, but he heard something across the street. When I tried to explain to the LL that it was in fact my swamp cooler, he said he would come by. He showed up while my cousin was at my house and I was at work, and apparently in the few minutes that the he was there, the squealing didn’t take place.
My father came over to fix it. The belt on the swamp cooler was so old and dried out that when my dad tried to remove it, it broke. He replaced it with a new one, and immediately the sound ceased. LL was absolutely useless and if I needed something done, I should just do it myself.
In October, my apartment was broken into while I was at my parents house for dinner. 2 days later I got a notice of eviction on the door for not paying rent. I called the landlord to discuss the eviction notice and the check number from the check I had already given him for Octobers rent. He couldn’t find it but agreed to allow me to write a new check, and I called my bank and canceled the previous one. While on the phone with him I told him about the burglary and I informed him of the now broken window crank and damaged screen.
— 2 months later —
When he got my 30 day notice, he called to ask when I would be out, so he could start showing the apartment. I told him that I had intended to be completely out by the 21, and he was free to show it. We then made a verbal agreement that if he could rent it before the first of February, he would prorate back to me any of those days.
I moved out on January 18^th and I spent that weekend with my parents cleaning the apartment, the yard, removing all of my belongings. My father and I met with the LL on the 22^nd of January to do a walk through and return the keys. He came into the house, and immediately told me that it was not clean enough, then started pointing out things that were not done for me when I moved in, like the blinds not working.
Because I work 11 hr days, I decided at that point to hire Molly Maid to come in, and professionally clean the house. My father went over on the weekend and cleaned the entire yard, any dog poop I had missed, and any additional crap that had been blown in. I dropped off the keys to the LL, and waited for my deposit back.
Of the $ 550 deposit, I only received $ 208 back. The LL charged me $ 160 for having to get it professionally cleaned (even though I already had done that) he charged me for the missing screen and broken crank that I had informed him of during the burglary, he charged me for non-​existant dog poop in the yard, and for having leaves in the yard. Furthermore he charged me for canceling my utilities before the end of the month, even though he had told me he was going to try to rent it before the first of Feb.
I tell you this story not to make you feel bad for me, but to let you know what kind of LandLord he is. When and IF you rent from him, know going into the rental agreement that you will not get your deposit back, no matter how well you clean. Furthermore, know that he will do the least amount of work to maintain the property because he knows that he can just keep your deposit, and blame it on you. If I could do it again, I wouldn’t have cleaned when I moved out, I would have left it exactly as it was, and probably would have gotten the exact same amount back from my deposit, and not have spent the $ 160 it cost me to hire Molly Maid.