I am being sent to collections, 3 months after move out.?

I moved out of an apartment on June 27, 2009. A couple weeks before the move out date, the management scheduled a walk-through in the afternoon of a weekday. I stayed home from work to be present for this and they did not show up. I was furious, I called the property manager telling them that I missed a day of work to do the walk through which they blew off because the maintenance people were at a meeting off site all day. If they knew about this meeting why schedule a walkthrough with a tenant who must miss work, and therefore lose a day of pay, to be present?





Anyways, I ended up not having the walkthrough and moved out on June 27. On July 13 they attempted to send a damages/repair receipt but it never made it to my new address, which is funny because I moved to another apartment owned by the same company 30 minutes away. I even filed the transfer through the property manager, so they most certainly knew where I was living. I did not hear about the damages, I was assuming the apartment was clean and undamaged, and I am pretty sure it was, but who knows since they SKIPPED my walkthrough intentionally. I really hope they have documentation that they missed it.





I just received a collections notice for $530 (the deposit was only $199 so they are demanding more), dated Sept. 25, 2009.





What is my plan of action here? I will not simply pay it.|||Simply wait for them to take you to court. All you need to do is prove you left zero damages. Hopefully you took photo's prior to vacating.|||Your only choice other than "just simply paying it" is to not pay it, wait for them to take you to Court for it, and then have a judgment levied against you for the original $530, plus interest, plus Court costs...and rather than have the "choice" to not pay it, the Court will issue an order to garnish your paycheck for a period of months to cover the debt, which will be thousands, not hundreds.





If where you live now really IS owned by the same company, don't be surprised if you get evicted after the debt is paid...





Pick your battles carefully, little one, and let go of the notion that somehow the world is "fair"; it is fun, to be sure, but it is rarely fair...|||This is a Tenancy Tribunal matter rather than a court one. Call 0800 TENANCY (0800 83 62 62) for free advice, and do it soon.