Hi, I don’t usually come to Reddit for advice, but I’m confused right now. My last apartment (lease ended in July) sent me an invoice for $400 in damage costs. The damage includes replacing a bedroom door $200, replacing the shower $130, and repainting the walls $70. Every. Single. Picture. They sent the invoice, and in the email they sent me are the exact picture locations I took and submitted when I moved in. When I moved in last year, I submitted pictures of markings on the wall, the door to my bedroom had a dent in it (ALSO they had a work order paper taped to the door saying it was notified), and I sent pictures of the entire bathroom because it was left dirty. Paint was coming off the shower walls, and dirty razors and soaps were. I sent them an email the same day they sent me my invoice, explaining all of this and copying my pictures, which I took in August last year with time and date stamps on each picture. They haven’t replied. I have now emailed them twice, along with my mother emailing them once (she signed as my co), asking for a reply. It has been two weeks now, and still no reply. This is a whole company too, not just some random landlord; it’s a legit leasing apartment with multiple buildings for this college town in Florida. I just got an automated email that says “your unpaid balance will be sent to collections if not paid in 60 days”. I don’t know what else to do other than take a road trip back to my college town and settle it. Is this common? Am I going about this wrong? Will I have to pay the $400 in damages I didn’t cause? Would this being sent to collections mean I get arrested?
Location: Florida, I don’t want to say the college town.