TIL my landlord in Chicago charged me $75 for a 'cleaning fee' I never agreed to

I moved out of an apartment in Wicker Park two months ago. The lease said nothing about a cleaning fee, but they took it out of my deposit anyway. Should I have fought it or just accept that landlords always win?

2 comments

2 Comments

john_murphy23d ago

Did you ask them what they cleaned for that $75? I once had a landlord try to charge me for "deep cleaning the oven" after I moved out, but I had literally never used the thing.

garcia.quinn16d ago

Actually @john_murphy that exact thing happened to me a few years back and it totally changed how I look at these move out charges now. I used to just pay whatever they asked without questioning it because I figured it was part of the standard cleaning fee. But after they tried to charge me for carpet shampooing that I never agreed to and had proof it was already done before I moved in I started asking for itemized lists every single time. Now I don't assume anything is fair just because they call it "cleaning" on a receipt. Your oven example is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about, if you didn't use it they shouldn't be charging you for scrubbing it down. It's made me way more careful about reading my lease terms too before signing.