My wife and I had a lease at our last place until January 31st.
When we did the final walk through, the guy said we'd get the whole deposit back.
I asked about final utilities, how we would pay those since they wouldn't be billed until after the 31st. I asked if he would send a bill to our new place or how they would handle it.
The guy said they would escrow the final utilities and said that "it's usually accurate to within a couple of bucks," and that they would just take it from the deposit refund.
I took this to mean that they would just pull out a certain amount from the deposit in the meantime (an estimate), probably cut us a check, and then when all was said and done and utilities came in, either do some kind of adjustment or if it was "within a couple of bucks" just let it go. I was fine with that.
I just got my deposit check five minutes ago. On it is the following:
1) Escrow for final rationed utility billing: $60
2) Account balance 2/21/13: $39.60
3) Total charges: $99.60
4) Deposit refund: $405.40 ($500-$99.60).
The account balance from 2/21/13 is for the final January utilities. I have a statement for that. Account was always current, utilities always paid like clockwork.
So it looks to me like they took $39.60 for final utilities, AND took $60 for "final rationed utility billing" which to me means final utilities. In other words, they took 60 bucks for nothing.
Am I misunderstanding something here? I'm going to call tomorrow, but maybe I am misunderstanding how this works. Not sure how an escrow account plays in here. Either way though it seems to me like they took an extra $60 I didn't owe.
When we did the final walk through, the guy said we'd get the whole deposit back.
I asked about final utilities, how we would pay those since they wouldn't be billed until after the 31st. I asked if he would send a bill to our new place or how they would handle it.
The guy said they would escrow the final utilities and said that "it's usually accurate to within a couple of bucks," and that they would just take it from the deposit refund.
I took this to mean that they would just pull out a certain amount from the deposit in the meantime (an estimate), probably cut us a check, and then when all was said and done and utilities came in, either do some kind of adjustment or if it was "within a couple of bucks" just let it go. I was fine with that.
I just got my deposit check five minutes ago. On it is the following:
1) Escrow for final rationed utility billing: $60
2) Account balance 2/21/13: $39.60
3) Total charges: $99.60
4) Deposit refund: $405.40 ($500-$99.60).
The account balance from 2/21/13 is for the final January utilities. I have a statement for that. Account was always current, utilities always paid like clockwork.
So it looks to me like they took $39.60 for final utilities, AND took $60 for "final rationed utility billing" which to me means final utilities. In other words, they took 60 bucks for nothing.
Am I misunderstanding something here? I'm going to call tomorrow, but maybe I am misunderstanding how this works. Not sure how an escrow account plays in here. Either way though it seems to me like they took an extra $60 I didn't owe.
