Management said they intended to keep my entire security deposit because "nothing was cleaned". On top of that, they said I owed an additional $60 because the cheaply-made blinds were damaged (normal wear and tear I say). I vacuumed twice and my fiancee and her mom cleaned the apartment, so I went in person to see if it was a mistake and spent 10 minutes getting talked down to by Property Manager Cathy Kincaid. I was told that I "abused the apartment" and "left it a mess" because the sinks, tubs, toilets weren't scrubbed back to a pristine ivory state and the carpet had a couple of small stains in the high traffic areas. (This was after the complex steam-cleaned the carpets upon 2 lease renewals and my brother also did it a couple weeks before I moved)

When I responded that all this was normal wear and tear and that I thought they would be gutting the apartment anyway and putting in new things after 4 years of use (and that I didn't intend to pay for it), I was told by Ms. Kincaid that "we should be able to use our carpets and fixtures for 9-10 years if they're maintained properly". If you're coming into a place and paying $800 rent, don't you expect to have new carpeting and newish fixtures? When I told her that I didn't do anything different from when I left my last 2 apartments and never had a claim against my deposit, she said, "So you abuse your apartments and then don't clean them up?" I took this as a character attack because this is the first time the woman had ever seen me.

Before leaving I mentioned that they hadn't credited me for my workout room deposit after I returned the key. It wasn't even acknowledged.

This case is still in the stage of sending certified letters back and forth, but if I am forced to pay the $60 they say I know, thanks to their use of posturing to keep my deposit money, I will be forced to refer to their manager as a SLUMLORD. I faithfully paid rent on time for 50-odd months, and this episode has been enough to change my opinion of Briar Creek from a favorable one to a strongly unfavorable one.