Q: Are there legal/civil repercussions I can take for an apartment complex charging more rent than what’s on the lease?
I signed a lease for August 2019 to August 2020 at a college apartment complex in Lynchburg. The lease states that I will be charged $450 per month for rent. I have just been made aware that they have been charging $500 a month. I never knew because I paid for the whole leasing term in August. They also charged me rent twice in August. Now they are saying that my rent is overdue because my balance ran out, but this is because they have been overcharging me and they charged double rent in August. Are there any legal repercussions I can make to make them correct what they have done?
A: You have two alternatives. You can bring a small claims lawsuit for the excess/overage amount of rent in the General District Court of Lynchburg. You can also contact the Virginia Attorney General's Office and make a formal complaint.
A: You can file a lawsuit to recover the overage, or when they try to evict you, you can provide this documentation to their lawyer and/or the court to work this out. It might be easiest if they just credited you the difference towards future rent.
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