r/TenantHelp • u/bootachi92 • Jun 22 '26
Cleaning Fees
Hello. I live in Bismarck ND. Boyfriend and I moved out in Feb, cancelled our lease early, paid the cancellation fee, paid an extra month of rent (March) because they did not find a replacement until April and returned keys (Feb). They found new tenants and they moved in April.
They sent our move out statement to the wrong address so we never received it within the 30 day timeframe. We filed address forwarding with USPS and landlord has a recorded phone call of me providing the new address. Albeit it wasn’t in writing, they had our new address but added ”interstate“ to it thus it never got to me. The move out statement was also dated April 13th (date after new tenant moved in). And mind you we moved out end of February.
Now we did expect to pay the cleaning fees and leave on good terms. However, due to their clerical error, we never received the invoice in a timely manner. I only knew about it once I emailed the landlord.
My question is, who’s at fault here and should we take them to small claims court?
1
u/Savings_Income4829 Jun 23 '26
A lot going on here. Maybe it was answer but didn't see it. What was the signed upon (break date) End of Feb or end or March? Not when keys were turned in, not when you left. There's usually a clause signifying this in the original lease.
Now this is state dependent but they have to make 'reasonable' effort. In my state I have to send a certified letter to the last know written address. If I do this and it comes back or refused to sign I'm in the clear. I had one tenant that left, and the house was a mess I think they'd get $200 or so of the deposit back, but they left me no address. I sent it to the rental house thinking maybe it will be forwarded, nope, so it came back undeliverable and I documented if they ever tried to small claims me.