Debt Collection Apartment Complex Five Years Later - First Bill Received.

In June of 2020, I (and my ex) rented an apartment. We put down our deposit... then, they called us a few days later refusing to refund our deposit but stated they had roaches. They said we could wait until it was exterminated or move in immediately. We needed a place and weren't going to fight for the deposit. Side note: from multiple former neighbors that still live there... they still have roaches.

In March/April of 2021, we received a notice of entry. They had stated that all food and items need to be removed from the pantry and kitchen for roach treatment so we did. We put everything in boxes and bags and placed all of food, pots, pans, etc into our hallway to be put away again after treatment.

They used this to say our apartment was not being kept up to standard. Despite this, it was clean and organized in every other room (cluttered because we'd just had a baby but clean). They filed for eviction.

Cool. We hated it there and moved on anyway. No eviction because we turned in our keys and left. Never got our deposit back, an itemized bill of why they kept our deposit, or a bill for any damages...

Today, in 2026, I finally received something. I opened a bill to see it was a debt collection from that apartment 5 years later for $3049.33 from that apartment complex... I've lived at the same address since we moved out, which was updated so we could receive our deposit back. Again, never received anything else in the last 5 years. Nothing on my credit report either.

We did not owe any back rent. They had taken pictures of our boxes and bags of food and cookware and used that to file with the courts for eviction.

They evicted several tenants and immediately renovated their apartments after we moved out and now charge double what they did for rent.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Edit - title should read "debt collection FROM apartment complex five years later - first bill received."

Location: Ohio