I once had a deduction from my deposit for a paintbrush and can of paint left on top of a kitchen cabinet; it had been left by their team when I moved in.
You left it there the entire time you lived there?
I have some paint in a cabinet which was leftover from when I moved in. I figured it might be useful if I need to touch up anything (although I haven’t used it in 2 years yet, so it might not be good anymore). At first I thought that another person’s comment was weird, before realizing I’m basically the same, except that I leave the paint in a cabinet.
Also, ADHD was a factor haha. Getting the dishes done and keeping the place tidy was enough of a struggle without extracurricular activities like the disposal of paint cans!
Yea, it wasn’t terribly visually obtrusive, so I just sort of forgot about it.
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I did not.
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Where do you live that they can just do that without taking you to your equivalent of small claims? (VCAT in Victoria, Australia)
I was living in Scotland at the time.
I took my first landlord to court because they kept my deposit and didn’t give me an itemized list of deductions from it. They had three weeks to do so after I surrendered the property.
The god damn judge ruled in their favor because they said that the three weeks started when the original lease ended, not when I dropped off the keys to this office. This was almost 10 years ago and it still puts me in a bad mood.
That sounds like the stupidest possible interpretation of anything. That judge needs to find a new job
Oh believe me. I came prepared with the state codes concerning renters rights and all that.
The judge asked me to explain why I think I deserve treble the amount of my deposit as damages. I had to reference the code number to this judge, and the assistant next to him had to tell him I was right.
Guess which part of the code I didn’t think I needed to print out, the part where it defines the time line of when the itemized list of deductions was due. 😤
Was the end of the original lease later? Couldn’t you just sue again once those three weeks were up?
Do not let your landlord steal your deposit.
- Take pictures before you move in. Make sure to document any damage no matter how small.
- Keep a signed copy of your lease in a safe place.
- Leave the place in as good condition as it was when you found it. Make sure any specific items mentioned as part of the move out are addressed and that you can prove it.
- Take pictures when you move out.
- Research your states small claims court rules and procedures.
- Sue landlord in small claims court if they try to steal your deposit.
I did this to a landlord who tried to rip us off with a bunch of bullshit fees after we left the house in immaculate condition. We tried talking to them and they wouldn’t even respond. It cost me about $100 for the court fee and to have them served. They must have known they fucked up because they paid up (deposit and court fees) almost immediately.
It pissed me off because I guarantee I’m not the first person they pulled that shit on.
This was an advice from my mom and for my first flat I ignored it. It ended up with landlord keeping the deposit because of some items we didn’t take with us. Mentioned items were a bunch of worthless trash he, so politely, asked us to keep in an unused room because he could need them later. After that I religiously documented every single detail & interaction with landlords(texts etc.) Saved my ass a bunch of times.
Yep. My last landlord did this. Kept half of our deposit. Said that our rabbits damaged the carpet, and that we didn’t clean it.
Well that didn’t sit well with me, since my rabbits can’t ingest synthetic fibers, or they’ll fucking die, so we militantly kept the off the carpet. Also, I was scrubbing the damn baseboards of that shithole at 2AM, like hell I didn’t clean it.
So I went in and complained, asked for photos and a description of the areas that weren’t cleaned, and the damaged carpet. Leasing company said that it was a mis-entry in their system and they would correct it. 2 days later I get a check for the deposit… and half of it is missing. Reasons for withholding : Standard cleaning fees, and pet treatment. So again I go and ask them, What the actual fuck. They said it was standard, everyone pays it.
So I pulled the pet addendum, no cleaning fee for small mammals (as in, not a cat or a dog) and, per the law in my state, the landlord is not allowed to withhold any part of the deposit for normal wear and tear and standard procedures. And… there was no mention of this in the lease that we both signed.
So I send them back a letter breaking down the language of the lease, the law, and advised that I will get my full deposit back, or I will seek damages for them unlawfully withholding my deposit. I also advised them that a small claims court could force them to produce records of all the other tenants they pulled this shit on.
They wrote me a check right there.
This is great that you managed to do that (genuinely), but most renters don’t have the time, energy, knowledge and/or confidence to fight against this kind of crap, nor should we have to (not saying you even implied we do, just saying).
Fuck landlords.
In a funny twist of fate, I’m actually renting from the same company again. It will be interesting to see if they try to pull the same bullshit again. If they do, I’ll probably take the morning to deliver some flyers about tenants rights, the applicable state law, and the pattern of exploitative behavior they are exhibiting.
Do that either way, sounds like a fantastic thing to do for your community!
Same company, different management. Best thing I can do for my community right now is catch the serial dog shit ditchers who keep leaving “gifts” in my side yard.
Just gotta get the damn camera sensitivity set correctly.
Ew, good luck with that lol
Do the other thing too though (or something similar, if you’re able and safe to, of course), strengthening community, and the individuals in it with knowledge is so beneficial.
Lived in a home for just under 4 years. Moved out of state. Several months later I get a vicious call demanding 2700 dollars usd for damaged carpet and a “smell”. I was young and dumb at the time and didn’t think I had any recourse. Being thousands of miles away and the threat of legal crap at a young age is daughting. Fuck landlords. We are very clean people.
My last landlord did this then fled the country when we tried to serve her with court docs. They really are a fine crowd.
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Well that’s not legal lol
This sucks.
I lost my deposit because of some BS cleaning charge they made when I moved out. That was over 20 years ago and still pisses me off to this day.
That said, I know landlords are generally shit on, but I’m a landlord today and have never not returned a deposit, plus interest. I’ve had to replace microwaves, refrigerators, water heaters, repair giant chunks of wallboard ripped out from TV mounts or shelving, repaint entire interiors, replace broken tiles and shower doors, you name it. Tenants are brutal, but we’ve yet to charge a single one. We don’t raise rent. We fix shit right away when it breaks. We’re fucking excellent landlords, if I don’t say so myself. Bought our house with hard work and regular paychecks, so we’re not here to fuck over others for a payday. We know what it’s like.
So…FWIW, and I know some will hate no matter what…but we’re not all bad.
It’s illegal for a landlord to keep a deposit. Advice from a landlord to you renters. Get renter’s insurance. Your landlord cannot arbitrarily lock you out. Take photos of everything moving in, take photos of everything moving out. If the landlord is fucking you over, take those assholes to court - but make sure you’re right and have proof. Fucking hold their feet to the fire.
I had a complex try to screw me over one time.
I pointed out to them that their parent company was trying to get approval from my home town to build a new complex, and that my mother was on City Council.
Of course my mother works never have considered how they treated her son in her decision.
But they couldn’t refuse to return my deposit. You know, because of the implication.
Good. I’m glad you got your money back.
it sounds like you’re a good landlord, which is a rare find lol, so good on you. If you don’t mind me asking, are you still able to make decent income from the property for the time and money you put in? I’m used to hearing landlords say they’d be losing money if they didn’t raise rent, put off repairs, charge fees for damages the tenant caused, etc. I guess I assumed that was at least a little bit true.
No…well, depends. Equity? Yes…depending on how you write off the taxes vs income from the rent. Personally, we’ve wiped out years of income from our property. We’ve installed air conditioning (to get away from expensive oil heat), had to replace the water heater, repaint the interior, pay for foundation repair, pay for rain gutter installation…we’ve wiped out 3 years worth of “profit” from the property. So we’re making nothing (other than equity, some of which is coming out of our own pockets) for the immediate future. Yes, we’re “losing” money. We are consciously not being assholes to our tenants, who are good people. We’d rather have stable, reliable, good tenants who are responsible than people we’re fucking over for a few bucks who know exactly what we’re doing and are gonna thrash the place. It’s a two way street. We respect them, and they return the favor.
god, it made me so happy to read that. It sounds like mutually beneficial relationship to both sides involved, thanks for telling me more :)
Anytime.
It’s how it should be. We play the long game, not the short term selfish game.
Landlord when asking for deposit: I want it and i want it NOW.
Landlord when giving back deposit: please give us a notice of vacancy 3 months prior or else you won’t get a single cent back.
Landord checking the flat 3 months after you left: everything was dusty, we have to clean that so no deposit.
The first and only time I moved out of an apartment, I was certain they were going to keep most if not all of my deposit…
But surprisingly, I got all 2,200 of it back! I was shocked but so happy.
The most recent time I moved out a couple years ago, I not only got my $900 deposit back, they didn’t ask for the $3000 fee they were supposed to get since I was breaking the lease!
I’ve lost $1,800 on one move out, and broke a lease early free another time because they forgot to check the box when we signed the lease for early leaving.
I some (all?) places you’re also owed interest on the deposit!
Still waiting for mine almost a year now. They were pretty quick with sending me a bill for all the stuff they replaced in my apartment tho.
Am I the only one who’s always had their deposit returned?
I’ve had some deposits returned in full, but never without the landlord first trying to wrongly claim at least part of it.
There are good landlords out there. After all, landlords are people too.
Every time (almost). I’ve received it back maybe 2/10 times and it seemed amazing. Even when it’s a “good” landlord, you find out at the end what they’re really like.
Landleeches*
The one and only time I ever got a deposit back was when I video’d my last day, with a newspaper showing the date and every square inch of the apartment.
Wait, you guys don’t get escrow for the deposit?
Lol
That’s only for buying a house silly
Deposits are given to your landlord in small unmarked cash bills in an I sealed envelope. The rental agreement should have at least 50 different reasons spelled out why they can keep the deposit, including “tenants TV is too loud.”
Ohh, my bad. I guess I’ve been doing it wrong all this time
