Dear Sir (s):
We, rented a loft apartment, D304, from Stratford Arms Apartments in Kent, WA from October through September (12 month lease). Upon expiration of this lease, we renewed our lease for another year September through October.in March of we notified the Property Manager, Kristi Hanson, that we would be vacating the premises and that we would most likely be breaking our lease and asked what we needed to do, as we did not want to leave the premises with unrealistic charges and also not vacate the premises unjustly. Kristi advised that would need to provide written notification by the 10th of the next month, April of our move and that we would be responsible for the full month rent, which we paid in full, $1,325.00, includes late fees. We, were actually already moved out by then and only were in the apartment to clean. We cleaned the whole apartment, took pictures and had a final walk through with Jason, Maintenance person, as Kristi advised that he was authorized to do this walk through. My husband, asked Kristi if she would also like to do our final walk through along with Jason and advised her that the apartment was ready for move-in, she declined. Jason verified and stated that all looked well and passed his inspection. We, did not sign any release at that time, as Jason did not have any paperwork for us to sign, other than providing our forwarding contact information. We moved with a clean conscience that we did everything possible to vacate the premises on good terms. We then received in the mail notification of charges dated 5/20/08 for a total of $2,407.38. We were in total disbelief of the charges and upon receipt of this notification, we called, contacted and spoke with the Assistant Property Manager, Jody and left several messages with her for the Property Manager, Kristi Hanson, trying to get clarification of these charges and why we were being charged, when we passed their move out inspection. My husband, also visited the premises several times, in which the office was not open and/or no one there. This went on for most of the month of May. Finally, when the notification expired, we got a hold of Kristi in which she told us that she longer has jurisdiction over the notice, as she has already forwarded the notice of charges to Financial Assistance, Inc., a Collection Agency in Bellevue, WA. We received their notification today, 8/05/08, via mail advising us that if we do not pay or make payment arrangements that we will be charged an additional $42.74,12 APR. We are not stating that we do not owe some of the charges, but that high of charges is simply ridiculous! Our whole deposit of $1175.00 was never returned even though it was stated on our rental agreement that it would be once our inspection was clear. I am disgusted and irritated at the way Rental Properties and their Property Managers take advantage of Renters. I would truly appreciate HELP or an advocate to assist in getting charges removed or reduced as soon as possible!
Thank you.
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