Consumer complaint received 2024-10-29
Product: Debt collection — Rental debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: HW Holding, Inc (OH)

XXXX at no time mailed me any notification of the debt from the apartment on XXXX XXXX XXXX. I left my mailing address on the envelope with my keys in it in the unit before I vacated on the last day I was allowed in the unit. I contacted XXXX several times by telephone asking where my deposit was, and they at not time during these conversations tell me that I had a out standing balance or that my deposit was going to be confiscated. They just said " It'll come in the mail, we will mail it to you '' multiple times. The unit was occupied from fall of XXXX to spring of XXXX. I took over one of the 2 spots on the lease from a previous roommate, with the other occupant was there the entire 4 years. The unit had not been painted for the entire 4 years. 

Several months after being concerned that I had no deposit in my mailbox, I emailed XXXX, and they informed me we had a balance and they had taken the entire deposit. This was strange, as A : they had not charged us for a missing key, and B : I had left my name and full address in XXXX, ohio very clearly written on the envelope with my keys in it, and it was placed in a very visible spot in the unit before I vacated it the final time. We had cleaned every aspect of the unit, swept the entire unit, cleaned the kitchen fully. 
They informed me {$200.00} was to " Deep Clean the unit '' and {$920.00} was to " Repaint the unit ". 

Upon looking at HUDs guidence on paint lifespan, I found they deem the useful life of paint to be 3-5 years. Additionally we had deep cleaned the unit before we left, wiping down windows, sweeping floors, wiping everything down in the kitchen ect. We had met what they had asked for and saw no reason why ANY of these charges were valid. 

Upon relaying this info ( see attached ), They wrote this : " Full paint- The unit was painted prior to you moving in, generally, once a unit is freshly painted within a year, then only touch ups should be needed additionally, per your lease, there is to be no wall damage or things hung. Due to the condition, we had to repaint the entire unit. I did go ahead and review all the damages and compared the pictures from last year before your move in and after. Your paint charge was {$920.00} but we can reduce this down to {$300.00} to cover all the wall damage and we can assume painting charges. '' This meant we would have been left with {$380.00} of our deposit refunded to us. 
They however did not refund us the difference. 
This was my last contact with XXXX before the debt was sold. They they did not notify me at any point the debt was going to be sold to a debt collector. I did not have any contact with the other person on the lease after we moved out and I still have not heard anything, nor do I have a way to get into contact them. The old info I had used to make attempts to contact with them have all failed. At no point was I mailed anything about a bill or a balance to my address that was left with my copy of the keys in the unit. I had to reach out to XXXX to find out there was a balance. 

I contacted them after I saw XXXX XXXX appear on my credit report, and they had stated that they had sold the debt, without correcting their mistake they had acknowledged they would correct. I presented this info all to XXXX XXXX and they dismissed it all, even though the land lord had said they had made a mistake and over charged us. 


XXXX then did not follow with me, nor did they refund anything. I am stuck here with my credit score having fallen XXXX points, my student loan interest rates through the roof, and it is baltently clear that XXXX negotiated in bad faith, did this to steal our depost and did not hold up their end of the deal. Please see my pdf 's for more info.