Beat: ex landlord took some of my mobnies...

[PITTM]

So I had to live in some super [censored] apartment for a month while I was between houses. it had a 900 dollar deposit and was a shithole. The blinds werent "dusty" so much as they were "covered in dirt". So when I moved in we did a walkthrough and all of these things were noted: carpet not clean, blinds not clean etc. So when I move out we do another walkthrough, the property manager checks off everything, tells me all is well, comments on how clean the carpet is, etc. before telling me I would be refunded the full $900. He says that he has to tell the landlord(he is just the property manager) to send me the check and then she will send it. So yesterday the check finally comes. It is for $810 dollars with a little invoice telling me that $90 was deducted for carpet shampooing.

a) i shampooed the carpets with one of those things from longs.
b) i thought me shampooing the carpets was ridiculous but my mom said i would probably get billed for it if i didnt.
c) carpets were obv much cleaner when i left than when i came.


So this is obviously retarded. I am not upset at the 90 dollars, I am upset that we pretty much expect landlords to steal from us. I mean the last 3 houses i have moved out of, the landlord found some ridiculous way to hold some money, and while they probably view it as a little extra money, i view it as what it actually is, theft.

So I just called my property manager and left a message. If i just go file a claim in small claims court I imagine they will send me a check pretty quickly yeah? Has anyone else challenged something like this before? I know its not gonna be worth like 2 days to fight this, but at the same time, they probably know the same thing, so I would imagine being sent a notice asking to appear in court would end things quickly, does that seem like a reasonable thought?