landlord wants more money

By Newly Frustrated Renters

Hello.  My boyfriend and I just moved to a suburb of Milwaukee.  Since I have a large sum of student loan debt, and since my boyfriend’s credit is not so hot, we were asked to pay two and a half month’s rent plus a one hundred dollar security deposit for our cat at signing.  We were told what the amount would be (less the fifty dollar application fee that had already been paid) and came to our lease signing appointment with our money order/check prefilled with that amount.  We were originally going to move in to our apartment on the 30th of June, which we were told would be fine.  Later, after we had been given the amount that we were to pay, I called and asked if we would be able to move in on the 28th so that my parents would not have to take off of work to help us move.  We were told that this would not be a problem.

At the lease signing, we handed over our prewritten checks, and were then told that the balance did not add up; that we had to pay an extra $61 because we were moving in early.  We had not been told of this previously, and when we brought that to their attention, they shrugged their shoulders and said ‘sorry.’  If they were not going to originally charge us for the 30th, then why are we having to pay for the 28th, 29th and 30th?? (It comes out to 20 dollars a day plus a dollar for the cat).  Is it fair for them to do this to us?  Do they have a legal obligation to give us that money back?  This was supposed to be an exciting next step for my boyfriend and I, but instead we are stuck with no money until our next payday.  The thing that bothers me most is had they just told us we would be prorated, I would have said nevermind, we’ll just move in on the 30th.  This feels like going through the checkouts and having the cashier automatically ring you up a candybar without telling you, and you don’t find out until you look at the receipt.

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