[FireGilbert]

What the heck this is as good a time as any to post my history of getting damage deposit back. Please follow the examples of the nice ones.

1. Lost $50 for additional carpet cleaning. Seemed ok considering this was a university share house that wasn’t treated great.

2. The landlords were my friend’s parents. I had to patch up and paint an ass sized hole I put in the wall goaltending in kitchen hockey but otherwise got the full DD back.

3. Went over the place with a magnifying glass noting every bit of dirt or dust. Then tallied each item up as 5 minutes of work for his wife to clean at $60/hour. One of my worst landlords ever. I just paid up so I’d never see his face again.

4. The best landlords I ever had were these two older Hungarian ladies in Sunnyside. Just super friendly and full DD returned.

5. I used the recommended cleaning service. Got the full DD back but the cleaners told the landlord I was messy and they then gave me a poor reference for my next place.

6. Another good landlord. Full DD returned with no issues.

7. Renting a room with my wife and dog at a friends house with her and a cat. One day during a storm the cat goes crazy and rips up a bunch of carpet near the landlords bedroom door but of course she blames it on the dog. This leads to a big argument and we are essentially kicked out with no damage deposit returned. Eventually we worked out an agreement to pay for some of the carpet and had the DD returned.

8. They tried to get us for a number of things but after some arguing we got the full DD back. One item was the condition of the yard but thankfully we had notes and photos showing it in much worse condition when we moved it. We were also criticised for leaving the recycling full. What am I supposed to do with recycling when it comes once every two weeks and the next date is two days after we move out?

9. Tried to get us for damage to the hardwood flooring. We pointed out it was not hardwood but cheap laminate and we had evidence it was already damaged before moving in. Full DD returned.

10. Saving the worst for last. I ranted about this in the gear grinder a while back. We were screwed over by both the cleaners and the landlords. They came at us hard for everything including light bulbs, normal wear and tear, and issues with light switches, cupboards, and a shower door that we had reported as issues and they refused to fix. We eventually sorted everything out except for some scratches on the floor they deemed more than wear and tear. In the end they accepted $200 for the floor and I left feeling extorted.