I took a look through the resources provided, which none seemed to be current or available for my location, so before I went on an hours long hunt for local legal consultation, I figured a general inquiry here may save me some time.

I got into a shitty rent-to-own mobile home (while this landlord was also a scumbag, this unit is not the issue) that was falling apart around me and decided that I’d rather forfeit my down payment money to get out before the thing completely fell down on top of me (not entirely literally), and found an apartment complex that was advertised and represented as “luxury,” but was actually the cheapest place for counties. As I was desperate to get out of the trailer, and Covid and landlord greed were increasing prices and scarcity everywhere, I opted to make the minimal payment to reserve a unit I qualified for as soon as one became available, which turned out to be around two months.

After the initial contact and acceptance was made, my attempts at communication were not responded to or addressed until I showed up in person on the day of my scheduled move-in. I could not see any unit prior, I had no indication what time of day the unit would be ready, because of my work schedule and the scumminess of my previous landlord, I had a one day window to rent a Uhaul, pack up my things, and move into the new unit, and return the Uhaul before 10pm.

I show up in the morning to make sure I still have an apartment to rent, they assure me I do and its not ready yet but it will be in a couple hours. I say great, go pick up the Uhaul, and pack it up. I show up several hours later with a full uhaul and the unit is still not ready. They ask if I can push it back to the next day, which no, I can’t. That’s okay, we can make it work. To pass the time, we go over the lease, I’m put on the spot to give a positive google review, I’m given a tour of all the amenities that clearly are the only justification for the outrageous price, and finally, I’m given the keys to enter the unit (and the leasing agent refuses to come with, since I had a pretty bad feeling). The unit is a pile of shit, and it looks like all the time we were waiting was just to paint the walls without covering the carpet, as the paint is pretty thick on the carpet all around the walls. No cleaning was done, extensive water damage and general damage abounds. I document all of this extensively in the online inspection. Some of these little details, while probably not legally relevant, are included to demonstrate why I had to proceed despite the accumulation of red flags. I was desperate, and the list goes on during the course of my tenancy.

The year of the lease term passes and I haven’t received a single word about renewal until a week before the end date, when I get a notice that they “have made several attempts to contact me about my lease.” They haven’t, but whatever, turns out, for being a luxury property, it’s still the cheapest in the area, so I don’t have any options but to renew. Also, they’re raising the rent despite more of the amenities not working than are, none of the damage I noted has been repaired, etc. “Okay, we’ll send you a new lease in a couple days.” The lease never arrives, my old lease is no longer accessible through their online portal, but I’m receiving the 1 year lease rate instead of the month to month rate.

The lease expired in July. By November, I am no longer making enough to pay my bills, so I elect to move back in with my mother, take an online class for a career change and then save up for a house when I’m ready. Knowing that a new lease was never sent or signed, and having no way to review what the old lease states about notification, I elect to just get out without reminding them of the oversight. The apartment is in Utah, I’ve moved back to Wyoming. I leave the apartment keys in a ziploc bag with a note of the unit number under the front door of the office, as the office is closed when I’m packed up and ready to leave. A few days later I finally get a call, it ends with “we’ll send you a bill with your final costs,” and I say “good luck with that.” That takes several weeks to finally email me, which I respond with something to the effect of “I am not in a lease agreement of any kind with [apartment], so I do not acknowledge or accept your bill.”

“I’m just the billing department, you should take it up with so-and-so.”

“Right, but I’m not in any sort of contract with you or so-and-so, so it sounds like it’s YOUR problem, not mine. You should probably tell your management that they need to pull their heads out.”

Several months later, a collections agency is now contacting me, they are sending me the lease agreement that ended, and I have essentially repeated the line about “I do not acknowledge this debt, and have not entered any legal agreement to be liable for such charges.”

So… Do I actually have any legal leg to stand on, or am I just loudly pretending to have even the slightest grasp of legal agreements?