My roommate and I moved out of an apartment on August 1st. Today, we received a refund of the security deposit (with interest) and 1/2 of August's rent since new tenants were found to replace us.
The landlord deducted $174.00 from the total refund for carpet cleaning charges and enclosed an invoice from the carpet cleaning company. The invoice is a bit confusing, but that's not the problem.
The landlord did not tell us she would be billing us for any carpet cleaning charges, and we actually spot treated the carpet prior to moving out, so we know there should not have been an issue.
Was she supposed to inform us of this prior to with-holding money for these charges? In the notes section, it looks like someone wrote "urine stain, food, drink". It looks like only one room was cleaned (as per the invoice).
I did have a cat in the apartment. It was an approved Emotional Support Animal. The cat has never defecated on the carpets, so I'm not sure why this "spot treatment" cleaning was necessary.
I live in the state of NY. Do landlords need to inform former tenants prior to with-holding a portion of the security deposit?

