Old apartment debt. What to do?

[povertybro]

Need help confronting old apartment debt

My s/o has an old debt with an apartment complex. She moved in for $99 July 1, 2018, which covered all of July’s rent and utilities. Afterwords, monthly Rent is $915, water was 65-70, and cable $35.

She was evicted 10-1-2018 with a past due balance of $2523.96. My first question is How did it start off so high if she was only two months behind?

Actually, I just need help with all of this. On the second page it says reversal of charges.

Collector says she owes $7k.

What can she do to fight this, to settle this, to dispute this? What are the options? I am attaching a link that will include three pages. The first two are the breakdowns of the charges. The next two is a statement from the collector. Note, you might have to open the pics in app or click pic to enhance the text.

[breakdown](https://imgur.com/a/TkWp1c8)

[statement](https://imgur.com/a/6eZVuRa)

[kittycreditmeow]

I am a property manager. Looks like a lot of reversal/insufficient fund fee's which also resulted in late fee's. They charged for removing trash and then cleaning the apartment plus carpet cleaning. The fee for ending the lease and then having to lease with new tenants was $700 alone. Wow! We don't charge anywhere near these kinds of fee's but I have definitely seen it before. 
 
We have had people contact us and try to work out a payment plan or to delete some of the fee's. We often work with them because getting some money is always better than getting no money. It really just depends on the management. 

Was this moved to a different collection agency or is it still thru the apartment? If it's a new collection agency, I would offer them whatever you can to pay off the collection and also get in writing that they will delete. 

[kittycreditmeow]

Ok so yeah the early termination fee is actually over $2,000 so the $7,000 collection actually is accurate but completely absurd. I would write them a goodwill letter and explain her hardship and tell them "this is what I have to offer $__.__. Even if it's just $500. See if they will work with you but most importantly get it everything in writing and make sure they are willing to delete.

[Anonymous]

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@kittycreditmeow wrote:

Ok so yeah the early termination fee is actually over $2,000 so the $7,000 collection actually is accurate but completely absurd. I would write them a goodwill letter and explain her hardship and tell them "this is what I have to offer $__.__. Even if it's just $500. See if they will work with you but most importantly get it everything in writing and make sure they are willing to delete.

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Absurd or not, charges such as this are almost certainly listed in the lease agreement that the OP signed. Furthermore, when one gets evicted, the expectation certainly shouldn't be that they simply pack up their stuff and leave in a "no harm, no foul" manner. There was a lease agreement and obviously the lessee broke the agreement. Penalties are expected and appropriate. 

The OP can call and attempt to negotiate a more favorable settlement, but the charges certainly appear valid.  There is a real cost to a landlord when they need to evict someone and they are certainly able to recoup those costs. 

[kittycreditmeow]

@Anonymous  

I am certain it was in the lease as well but things change for people, their financial situation can change on a dime and I am sure the OP's S/O never intended to break her lease and leave. I think the majority of us here can say we have made financial mistakes.This just so happens to be someone's mistake and yes they are absolutely responsible for the charges but I would go ahead and guess that the fee's and final collection far outweigh what they can actually pay which is why the situation escalated to collections and it is absolutely worth negotiating a payoff. The collection agency bought it for pennies to the dollar, so making $500 off of it is going to be better than nothing. The OP is asking what he can do to fix it and I shared my opinion, I'm sorry if you disagree.