Apartment Review for Empirian On Central - Phoenix, AZ

It is interesting reading everyone’s complaints, especially that of the last person who says Empirian will come up with any reason NOT to give you your security deposit back. When I called to inquire about my security deposit the manager told me that in addition to denying my husband and I our $200 security deposit, we owed more than $300. Part of this balance was a $56.48 water bill. I asked how I could have a water bill when my husband and I haven’t lived in the complex since the first week in November and she said it was for the past 2 months. When I reiterated that my husband and I haven’t lived there since the first week in November (3 months) she changed her story a bit and said even though we were not living there and using the water we still have to pay for water maintenance costs such as maintenance of the pool and sewage. My argument is that $56 is what I pay for my water bill at my house which is two times bigger than the apartment and WE LIVE THERE. The rest of the $300+ balance is a $14 fee for turning our keys in a day after our lease was up when the reality is we turned the keys in 11 days before our lease expired, as well as $95 cleaning fees for things I did in fact clean (the toilet and sinks/countertops/cabinets in the bathroom and the cabinets and countertops in the kitchen). The office manager Jennifer also showed me a picture of “garbage” my husband and I left in the apartment which included plastic grocery bags stuffed into one another. When I asked why we were never given a Move-Out checklist she told me my husband opted out of the checklist and instead chose to write a letter stating that we would not be renewing our lease when this is what he was told to do when he went to give the office our 90 days notice that we would not be renewing our lease. This miscommunication is what happened after I paid my last rent payment, too. I called the office to make sure it was in fact the last payment and was told I had to pay one more month’s worth of rent and it was due the last day of my lease. A couple days later I spoke to a different employee and was told that I had already paid my last payment. On my last bill (December) I noticed that my husband and I were being charged $10 more than what our rent actually was. Not much, but I didn’t know if this was a one-time occurrence or if it had been happening since the complex began taking charge of the water bills in May, at which time I noticed a steady monthly increase in rent and water combined (from $687 in May to $712 in October). My husband and I moved out of the apartment the first week of November. It was on my last bill that I noticed my rent was more expensive in December than it had been in May when my husband and I actually lived there. Speaking with the office manager was pointless because from the moment I met with her she was unprofessional and rude, insisting that I was paying the same amount I had always been paying rather than listening to my rationale.