Parks Edge At Shelby Farms    |    Kerie Petroff    |    Cordova    ,    Tennessee 38018    Landlord Complaint 23-3990

I have lived in Parks Edge apartments for 2 years while completing my anesthesia degree and upon terminating my lease and moving out of the apartment on April 23 i am surprised with a "courtesy" phone call from the apartment property manager on April 28 who stated that i "may be incurring some charges for damages due to dirty carpets." She stated they could not elaborate on the damages at that time because the process had not been finalized but that it looked as if i may have to pay to have the carpets replaced, but i would have to wait to receive an email of the finalized report. I strongly expressed my disagreement with this decision at this point and requested to speak to subsequent staff who could better resolve the issue and was denied speaking to a supervisor. Even considering the carpet had been used by prior tenants I was told by the property manager that the carpet had stains and smelled bad. I notified the property manager that the apartment did not have a noticeable smell or any major stains when we vacated the premises on April 23 and that if it did truly smell it may have to do with the apartment being closed up with the A/C off for nearly a week with temps in the mid to upper 80s, which would leave any home with a musky smell. Our apartment had an unpleasant odor when we moved in for which my wife treated by thorough steam cleaning followed by a couple of weeks of sprinkling baking soda on the carpet and vacuuming it up until we did not notice the smell anymore. If i would have had any indication that they would try to pin me with the cost of replacing the carpets i would have had them replace it at that time and avoided this issue. I told the property manager that i felt the carpets could use a simple vacuuming and if desired a steam cleaning and i notified her that i did not do an in depth cleaning prior to vacating the premises because i was under the impression they did this between every tenant and my efforts would be without reason. I also expressed my view that there is a marked difference between carpet needing to be cleaned and having to replace the carpet and that i was not in agreement that the carpet needed to be replaced and that i was definitely not responsible for replacing their carpet for normal wear and tear and issues that existed before me. I also notified the manager that we had used a professional steam cleaner to clean the entire apartment carpeting 3 times during the 2 year period that we lived there and that my wife was an obsessive compulsive with cleaning her house who also used aerosolized carpet spot cleaner to clean the entire reachable carpeted surface in each room every sunday afternoon. This was not done in an attempt to avoid a fee upon leaving the apartment, but because this is how we live because organization and cleanliness are defining characteristics of both of us. Needless to say i was disgusted when i was emailed an invoice totaling $2354.07 at 5:55 pm on April 29 (note that the apartment office conveniently closes at 6pm). This invoice includes $739.07 for carpet REPLACEMENT (preexisting), $250 for cleaning and sealing the sub floor due to PET URINE (preexisting), $900 to REPLACE two doors due to a few screw holes because i installed a small door chain lock at the top of each (in order to prevent my 4 yr old son from going outside without my knowledge), $50 to clean the oven and refrigerator and $35 to clean the master tub (each had been regularly cleaned during our stay), $255 to replace boards in the cabinets under all of the sinks (this is a maintenance issue), and $125 to paint the exterior patio (please explain?). I did a walk through assessment with a maintenance staff member the week before we left who assured me that my apartment lacked any significant issues and that the wear and tear aspects were no concern for me. This business is pressuring me to pay for their maintenance and renovations after being an excellent tenant and should be exposed to the public.