Location: California
Hi all, two years ago I signed a lease agreement with three other girls for the academic year. When we initially moved out we were being charged fees for ‘damages’, my Roomate then immediately emailed them to provide proof of the damages. They never provided evidence and their responses via email were vague leading us to believe that these charges weren’t going to be upheld.
It has recently been brought to my attention that our credit scores are being affected by these unpaid damages which amount to $1700. One of my former roommates sought legal advice and their lawyer said that we could do nothing but pay this amount, however upon looking at the invoices that were sent to pay for the damages, our apartment is being grouped with two others yet the amount we owe is the same. Furthermore, another invoice they sent to pay for carpet replacement was for an entirely different apartment yet was in our names. The Roomate that got a lawyer is offering to pay the full amount and is expecting us to pay her our portion of it otherwise she will ‘take other steps’. Another girl from my apartment and I believe this to be threatening and believe that she is insinuating she will sue us if we do not pay her. I don’t know where to go from here and am considering paying the fee and putting it behind me, what should I do? Any advice would be appreciated.
Comments
Ultimately there is some fact of these damages and what the apartment can establish. You know what the apartment looked like when you left. Was the carpet stained?
I don’t think I ever left a college apartment that didn’t have wine stains or something on the carpet.
>Another girl from my apartment and I believe this to be threatening and believe that she is insinuating she will sue us if we do not pay her.
She’s definitely insinuating that. And she’s on pretty good footing to do so. She apparently consulted a lawyer who believes your best move is to pay. I don’t know what he looked at, or if he thinks you actually owe or that paying is cheaper than fighting. But any of that is believable. She seems to have handled this reasonably, she’s going to take her next step, and you reasonably share in that cost.
>I don’t know where to go from here and am considering paying the fee and putting it behind me, what should I do?
This is a judgment call. If it were me, if I thought my carpet were immaculate when I left, or if I thought the carpet was trash when I moved in, I might consider fighting this. But knowing what I did to the carpet in my college apartments, I’d pay and make this go away.
If I did pay, I would at least offer a pay for delete (they agree to remove it from your credit if you pay). I’m not sure that’s terribly likely, but I’d at least make the ask.
How is it affecting your credit? Is it in collections?