054 dont anticipate deposit
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I learned in Kindergarten to return items the best you can in the shape when you borrowed them. In Boy Scouts we were taught to leave your area in a better condition than when you got there. In renting an apartment those two rules get thrown out in a heartbeat!
When I first started working in Cedar Rapids Iowa I had decided to find a weekday residence. I did this in the form of an apartment in an older somewhat worn building on the original main road through town and right on the bus line. The price was a bit low for the size of the apartment but many items reflected the setting of the price.
The apartment I rented was not the one that I was shown, but the one I was shown had flaws and was old. The one I rented was of the same basic quality as the one I evaluated. It was old; old tile, old flooring, old cabinets, an older stove and refrigerator. Old, but serviceable especially for the price.
There was paint pealing on the ceiling in the kitchen, bathroom, and a built in cabinet just outside the bathroom. There was some mold on the grout and the caulking around the bathtub and bathroom sink. The toilet seat was solid but a the paint was very worn along missing the stoppers on the seat that rested upon the toilet. Since the seat was a solid wood with metal brackets, I figured that this was good enough for them, otherwise with it being so obvious it would have already been replaced. The paint on the walls was older, it was a gloss paint, and worn. The paint quality in the hallway matched inside the apartment. That along with old building paint pealing my impression was that this was the quality and what you got for your rent money. I reported this to the company representative.
Again, being a low budget place, I also noted that the apartment was less than clean. I told the representative. There was no response. This being a low budget place their idea of clean was not my idea of clean. I hired a cleaning company to come in and clean the place top to bottom. Wash all of the cabinets and shelves inside and out. Wash down the walls and floors. Clean the light fixtures, plug outlets and the switch covers. Clean the refrigerator and stove. And last but not least clean the blinds. Clean the best they can.
The cleaning people were working on the apartment while I was at work. Between service calls I stopped out to see how the progress was going. The first thing they said to me as they had just started cleaning the blinds was that the blinds were breaking when they tried washing them. I told them to stop as I would report that to the leasing company in hopes of replacement. I also had drapes I was going to use for most of the windows which would give me window coverings. The blinds were never replaced and looking at them further, poorly installed as they were missing a number of the middle brackets.
While they did not really look it, the floors were cleaned. The wood floors had irremovable spots, the tile in the kitchen was still dull and dirty looking, and the bathroom was still old and dull looking and it was cleaned. When they were done, the place was cleaned.
Remember the refrigerator? In the beginning I couldn't quite figure out the flat plastic item on top. I also noticed that the vegetable drawer did not pull out quite right. so I took it out to inspect. It is then that I noticed that it was put in backwards and that the piece on top of the refrigerator was the front of the drawer.
Again, thinking that the management company would have looked at this after the previous tenant moved out it would have been found and corrected...if they had indeed inspected and cared. Well, wanting to use my vegetable drawer I took the time and the plastic epoxy glue and fixed it. Now it worked properly.
Remember the toilet seat that had the worn paint? I determined that part of the lack of paint was built up, ready for this, yes, built up poop! Yes, I had to clean of ground in feces.
During my tenure there I had passed every cleanliness and bug inspection. I never had any complaints from management.
The representative told me that they took much time with inspecting my apartment after I moved out.
The above are all facts. The pinup is all facts. There are bad reviews that state that D & D did not return deposits and the reasons stated were in some cases were repairs that had not been done when people first moved in. There were other instances of questionable explanations when people moved out therefore refusing return of the deposit. There were reports that D & D had bought the building and had not returned deposits collected under the previous owner.
Therefore, don't anticipate deposit.
Editorial (since they could not find the drawer in the refrigerator correctly let alone broke I have to explain that this is editorial and speculation):
Too bad the company did not inspect the apartment that before I moved in. I cannot prove it with direct evidence, but the results dictate they had not even looked at the place prior to me moving in. If they did they would have come up noticed the things I found.
To bad I mentioned that I had bought a house. I just planted the word sucker all over my face. They found a guy with money. Git him!
I really want to see the improvements. After all, I paid for them!