As my readers know - I've referenced my moves quite a bit in my blog. I have a great rental history and have never had an issue with a landlord until....
Oak Street Apartments, Hood River Oregon owner/landlord - Charlotte Wertgen or Wertgren. Whatever.
I moved out of my apartment there on December 3rd 2010. My landlord came into my apartment while I was cleaning it and we discussed how I should leave (will there be a walk through? Do I owe money for 3 days in December?) Nope. No walk through. Just leave the keys, the parking pass and a forwarding address on the kitchen counter. As for the 3 days rent for December "We'll square that up with the deposit". Okay...so a month goes by....I call the landlord on January 3rd 2011 from my cell phone and she returns my phone call 2 days later on my work phone. The delightful message stated that she didn't "Think" that I would be getting any of my deposit back and that I could "call back and argue" if I "wanted".
Well...to keep my deposit is one thing. $300 isn't much. It's on top of the $175.00 non-refundable "cleaning deposit" that is written into your month-to-month lease. So, I suppose that we did "square up with the deposit" and the $300 I didn't get back was a very expensive 3 days in December. I called Charlotte back and asked for an explanation in writing (Oregon law states that a landlord has 31 days to submit this to the tenant). Charlotte yelled that she was giving me an explanation and was very indignant about the whole thing. All I want(ed) is the explanation in writing. Her final response: "If I get around to it". Well, that must be nice...and a good little scam too. Apparently Charlotte is above the law and doesn't need to give her tenants any explanation in writing as to why she keeps any or all of their deposits. Her rent is cheap. Her apartments are downtown in a tourist area and well...we should be so happy to rent from this woman.
My advice to anyone considering renting an apartment at Oak Street Apartments in Hood River, Oregon - Take pictures. Lots of pictures. Be careful about calling for any repairs, as you'll be docked on your deposit for that too. I called the maintenace man one time for a plugged sink. I was scolded by Charlotte for "stuffing lasagna" down the sink. A horrible patch job apparently means a room was "painted".
An alternative...don't rent from this woman at all - she will treat you like a child if you question her methods versus treating you as the paying tenant you are.
