Move Out Instructions and Information on Your Security Deposit Return

Your Security Deposit Return (SDR) will be sent to you within thirty (30) days after the expiration of your lease agreement pursuant to Ohio Lease Law. We will mail the SDR to the ONE forwarding address you provide to us IN WRITING (by fax or mail). If we are not given a forwarding address, the SDR will be held until we are contacted in writing and given a forwarding address to send it to. Click here for a copy of the Security Deposit Return Form.

Enclosed with the check will be a detailed itemization of any and all deductions against your Security Deposit. Once again, due to the extreme workload we face during this time of year and because we are unable to determine which residents caused damage to the unit, we issue only one check per apartment or house and we do not write individual checks. The check contains the names of all residents of the apartment who had a valid lease contract with Nicastro Properties, LLC for the lease term. The check is a multiple-party check and must be endorsed by all parties listed on the check before it can be cashed. However, it is not necessary that all parties be present to cash the check. The last individual to endorse the check may take it to the bank and cash it. If you want the check made out to one person, all residents of that particular apartment must sign an agreement requesting us to do this. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS.

In order to receive credit for your door and mailbox keys, you must leave them in the mailbox of the address you leased by midnight of the day your lease expires, or make arrangements with our office for pick up. The keys must be enclosed in an envelope with your full apartment address on it. The failure to return all of your keys will result in a door lock re-key charge of $180.00. We realize this policy is very strict but it is the result of problems that have occurred over the years.

You must vacate your apartment no later than 12:00 Midnight August 31, 2007. No holdovers will be tolerated! Failure to vacate your apartment on time will result in a $100.00 per day charge that must be enforced.

Please make sure that you pay your last months rent. Your Security Deposit cannot and will not take the place of your last month’s rent. Anyone who tries to do this will be charged late fees and be subject to eviction. Evictions can be costly and damaging to your credit. If we have not received your rent by August 1^st, 2007, we will begin the eviction process by serving you a 3 day “notice to leave the premises” in order to protect the integrity of our business. Evictions are costly, time consuming and embarrassing and they affect all tenants on the lease as well as their co-signers. Please pay your rent on time and closely communicate with our office.

This memo is designed to help you to minimize deductions from your Security Deposit. If you follow the guidelines there is less of a chance you will be charged for damages when your Security Deposit is returned.

1. Carpet and Floors

Vacuum your carpet thoroughly. If you notice that your carpet is still abnormally dirty after vacuuming, you will be charged on a per room basis for carpet cleaning. However, vacuuming will eliminate an additional vacuuming charge. Remember: Damage to carpet caused by cigarettes, irons, bleach, chewing gum, acetone, peroxide, and red dye #2 (Kool-Aid) can not rectified. Stains, burns or gum spots will result in charges for repair or replacement depending upon the location and extent of the damage.
If you have hardwood floors, they must be swept and mopped with water or White vinegar only; do not use wax.
Be very careful not to scratch your wood floors when moving your furniture and when moving out.

2. Walls

Return your unit without the walls being all marked up. If you have lived in the same unit for more that one-year, this will be taken into account. However, if your walls are abnormally marked up when you vacate your unit, you will pay for us to paint. Believe it or not, a white Staedtler Mars-Plastic eraser for paper and film (#52650) will remove many black marks and smudges from your walls. However, it will not remove gouges, holes, knicks or scratches (obviously). For larger smudges, scuffs or grimy areas (i.e. walls where beds used to be), try diluted Fantastik or Formula 409. Some of the paint will come off when you rub, so don’t rub too hard or you’ll rub through to the drywall paper, which is cardboard and is easily damaged by liquid. The eraser and the cleaners mentioned above will not clean heavy grime or black marks resulting form bicycle tires or shoe prints on the living room, hall or bedroom walls. If these walls are dirty they will need to be painted.

3. Drywall

You will be charged for any wall holes larger than a small nail hole. Damage from adhesive picture hangers that tear the paper will be chargeable. You will also be charged for removal of adhesive residue (such as Bluetack) from any wall or trim surface. Rooms with thumb tacks or nail holes in excessive numbers will result in a spackling charge.

4. Kitchens

Here are some items most people miss:

A. Cleaning the food splatters off the wood paneling (if you have it), the doors in and near the kitchen, the baseboards and the toeknicks under the appliances and cabinets.

B. Scrub the floor clean, it must be smooth to the touch, not sticky.

C. Wash the food splatters and/or spills from the walls. It will be the heaviest near the stove and refrigerators. There will be splatters on the wall between the counter top and the wall cabinets; you need to clean it too.

D. Clean out the pantry and clean the shelves with a damp cloth. Wash the floor too.

E. The night before you’re going to clean, make sure you thoroughly spray your oven including underneath the range burners, drip pans, broiler and oven racks with Mr. Muscle or easy-off oven cleaner (be careful not to get any of these cleaners on the outside of the oven since they can very easily eat through the paint). Most ranges are made so that the top part lifts up which makes it very easy to get in underneath the burners and drip pans and clean (you’d be amazed how much gunk can accumulate there during the course of the year!) If you have a range top that won’t lift up, take the drip pans and burners out and clean underneath the best you can. Next, shut the oven and broiler doors and let everything sit overnight allowing the product more than enough time to work effectively. For particularly hard to clean parts and areas, SOS pads work great when used with oven cleaners.

F. Your refrigerator can be cleaned with LYSOL or Pine-SOL and water. Be sure to clean the top of both the refrigerator and all four sides of the refrigerator and freezer doors. After cleaning the refrigerator and cleaning under it, unplug it and prop the doors open so they won’t shut and allow mold and mildew to grow.

G. The pantry shelves and cupboards should be wiped out along with the base cabinets (underneath the sink, etc.), drawers and countertops (both kitchen and bathroom) with a solution of Lysol, Pine-Sol or Lestoil and water. Your kitchen and bathroom floors should be swept first then scrubbed with Spic & Span or any of the products listed above and mopped. These products are also great for cleaning behind and underneath both the refrigerator and range (be very careful when pulling the appliances away from the wall, so you don’t gouge or tear the linoleum floor – a very costly repair!) However, you may not need to pull the range out. If it is real dirty, you will need to pull out the stove.

5. Bathroom

The best products available for cleaning your bathtub, tub walls, shower doors, shower door tracks and caulking are Tilex, Dow Scrubbing Bubbles, Lysol Basin Tub and Tile Cleaner, or the Works (sold at Kroger and Zettler stores). You can save yourself a couple of hours of scrubbing by using one of these products. Spray the whole shower compartment (especially the caulked areas) thoroughly. Let it sit for at least a half an hour. Then take a toothbrush or other small brush and clean the shower door tracks and caulked areas (be careful not to scrub the caulked areas too hard, because you could pull the caulk away from the tile and ruin the seal.) Next, take a sponge and wipe down the wall panels and shower doors.

A. The bath walls will have splatters that could be toothpaste, soap or hair spray, etc. Please wash the walls with a damp rag.

B. Scrub the floor including behind the toilet.

C. Wipe out the vanity cabinet.

D. Wipe off the door and Knob and the towel bar holder.

E. Clean the light fixtures and leave the light bulbs.

F. Clean off the medicine cabinet door outside and inside and the inside of the medicine cabinet.

G. Wipe down the counter, faucets, toilet tank lid, behind the toilet bowl and the seat and the baseboard.

H. Remove any shower curtains or shower curtain rings.

6. Windows

The inside of all windows should be cleaned and the outside too if possible. Dust and clean window ledges, make sure all screens are in and report any missing or torn screens.

7. Fixtures

Anything you have attached to the property as a fixture must remain, example: blinds. Mini blinds must be dusted or cleaned and placed back on windows or you will be charged for cleaning and damages.

8. Basements

The basement must be emptied of all property and debris belonging to the tenant. The outside of the washer and dryer should be wiped clean and the floor should be swept and any major dust or cobwebs cleaned up.

9. Outside Areas

The porches or decks that you may have should be swept and free from furniture and debris and cleaned of any grime other than normal outside dirt. All yard areas (front, side, and rear) must be clean of any furniture, debris, or trash.

Any furniture or other items that you do not want must be thrown away. Anything large that will not fit in a dumpster must NOT be sat in an alley near a dumpster. This will be strictly enforced in the campus area this year. We will deduct any charges that we accrue from hauling anything belonging to tenants from their security deposit. Remember, even if one personal belonging is left it is one too many. One piece of trash left is one too many.

If you have any questions concerning any of the above mentioned items, please do not hesitate to contact our office. We are simply providing some general guidelines. If you have a particular situation that is not covered here, please do not assume anything… CALL!!!!

Thank you very much for your cooperation. We are sure we can all work together to make this transition as smooth as possible. It’s been great having you as residents!!!