I rented from Skyhook Apartments (aka Apartments of Ithaca) from August until January as a month-to-month tenant. Around Thanksgiving 2009 I found out I was accepted into a graduate program near Buffalo, and informed my landlord in writing soon after that I would be moving by the end of January.
Everything was fine until New Years Eve. I went home to visit my folks for the holidays, and at this point I had found my new apartment in Fredonia. I wrote a follow up email to my landlord to tell him January's rent was going to be a few days late (due to me being 8 hours away) and give a precise move-out date, January 17th as this was the earliest I could move into my new place, and my contract with work didn't end until January 15th. Then I get a reply from him the following day: "Your tenancy ended yesterday at midnight. I have another individual ready to move into your unit on Monday and need you out ASAP. I spoke with your boss who said you were visiting family this week, I will be more than happy to have your belongings moved into a storage unit and deduct the costs out of your damage deposit. Please call me as soon as you can to discuss this situation."
I call him right away and explain that this is absolutely unacceptable, that my written notice said the end of January, not December. Besides the fact my new apartment wasn't read I still had two weeks left of my contract at my job. His response to me was that he hadn't received January's rent as of New Years Eve and "of course I was doubtful you were coming back", but after the conversation, he after checking my original written letter to him, he offered to "extend my lease due to his clerical error" and temporarily put the new tenant into a different apartment if I paid him for the two weeks rent (half rent) within 24 hours. I said this was fine and rushed back to Ithaca like an idiot to pay the rent. Then there were no more problems until I moved out two weeks later.
My incredible father drove out with his truck to help me make the three hour move out to Fredonia. We spent the better part of the weekend deep cleaning the apartment from top to bottom, steam cleaning carpets, cleaning out the oven and fridge, all around making sure it was in better condition than how I found it. I called my landlord the day before we were about to leave asking if he'd do a walk through inspection with me before I left, he said this was fine and to call him when my father and I were ready to go the next morning and either him or the rental manager would meet with me. Morning comes and I couldn't get a hold of him or the rental manager. After an hour of phone calls, I give up, leave a voicemail saying the key was on the kitchen counter and we had left, but not before taking ample photos of the apartment showing the condition it was in. Later that week, I email him with my new mailing address, he replies saying everything was fine, and I would have my $585 deposit back within the week.
The end of January comes, and I still haven't seen my deposit, I gave a few more weeks, and still nothing. I write him another polite and professional email asking about whether the check had been sent, and the reply absolutely baffled me. "You owe us $300 in back rent. Cleaning is estimated at $200. We will be remitting your $85 refund within the next few weeks. As a general note, please be aware that we cut you a break on cleaning, if charged full price you would owe us $200."
I write a scathing email demanding a written invoice for cleaning and an explanation about the back rent. The invoice is as cryptic as the original email, things like "bathroom", "all walls", "outside windows and screens", etc..., After several more angry emails, I basically discovered that they simply re-cleaned and painted the apartment, which is routine between tenants, but decided to charge me as a way of keeping my deposit. After showing them the NYS renters laws which require the apartment to be in move in condition (which I had photographic proof of) upon leaving. They said the cleaning charges were "not negotiable" and reiterated that cleaning should really be $400. The back rent charge they claimed was because I only paid half rent for January, and was still responsible for the full $600. This would be true except my landlord agreed *in writing* to this solution as it was due to his "clerical error." Several months later I still never received the small refund I was still supposedly due. After sending a certified letter in May threatening legal action, I finally received a check for $154, why the increase from the original $85 I have no idea, but this is yet another proof of the lack of any consistency.
I feel like I was seriously taken advantage of since I'm a grad student and he knew I was moving to the other side of the state. Had I moved to another apartment in Ithaca, where it would have been easier to sue, I wonder if I would have received more back. Part of the problem is that New York State has lousy renter protection laws and there is little recourse beyond a full-blown lawsuit, which would require a six hour round trip drive for me to file and to appear in court. I'm curious if anyone else has had a bad experience with Skyhook? Let me know if you have, the Attorney General has a complaint system for landlord-tenant issues, and a complaint with multiple tenants would be a lot stronger.
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