I Got My Security Deposit Back! Why?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Brief recap-

I lived with my parents from birth to 1998 or so. I moved into a nice apartment complex in a good, safe neighborhood and close to reliable public transportation.

All was well until I discovered several forms of toxic mold were growing wild through most of my apartment. I had no credit. I needed a place to live. I grabbed the first semi decent looking place I could get with no credit.

The neighborhood was crime-ridden and dangerous. The only bus route in the area would often go out of service without warning. I shared my apartment with a constant stream of rats, mice, what I think was a squirrel with mange and similar vermin. I never saw ants or cockroaches. It my sincere belief that this was only because the rodents ate them all. I had been building credit since I moved there. As soon as my lease was up, I moved.

Management, no surprise, never contacted me regarding my security deposit. So, I repeatedly called them. I said that it was my understanding that I was entitled to either my deposit back, or a letter detailing why I could not have my deposit back.

I was expecting them to keep all or a significant amount of it. It worked out that the office chair I sat in (the only piece of furnitureI had in the overstuffed place) often had a wheel end up in a tiny gap in the faux wood flooring. Overtime, though I tried to prevent it, the gap got bigger and deeper. By the time I moved out, it was several inches wide and tall by I’m not sure how deep. That was my fault. I was willing to admit that it was my fault. I just wondered how much they would charge me for the repairs.

I got a check and a bill in the mail today. They charged me nothing. I got my entire security deposit back.I discussed this with my beloved. She said that it was likely due to incompetence on the part of management and maintenance. This is very plausable.

When I told management I had rats, they basically said ‘okay’. I had to ask if they had an exterminator visiting any time soon. They said yes, and did I want him to visit my apartment? I needed a window AC unit installed in the living room before I could move in. Management assured me that maintenance could install it no problem. I made several calls to management asking for maintenance to install the unit. After two weeks of calls, it still hadn’t been done. While delivering some stuff to the apartment, we ran into the maintenance guy. We politely asked why he had not installed the unit. He said he wasn’t sure which of the two living room windows we wanted it in. I had specified which window in at least one call. At any time, he could have had management call me and just ask which window. Despite leaving my new address with management when I moved, the check I received today has my old address on it.

Given the above, I find it easy to believe that I was supposed to be charged for floor repair. But, maintenance never told management. So, I was never charged.

2

My guess is that your security deposit is held by the accountant/bookkeeper that takes care of these things for the owner. And that given the numerous other miscommunications you have had concerning repairs that this is just another one, just this time in you favor.

3

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

My understanding is in some areas all deposits are kept, some all, sometimes you get back a pittance.

Go in good health and don’t worry about it.

4

I once rented a small house from a “little old lady”. She fit the stereotype beautifully. She repeatedly invited us to her church, dropped off cookies a few times, etc.

When we moved out the place was spotless. I’d even done some repairs of preexisting conditions on my own. The security deposit was small, but meaningful to us at that point in time.

After patiently waiting a few weeks, I called her, assuming she’d simply forgotten. She told me, “so, sue me, you asshole” and hung up. My jaw dropped, and I dropped the situation.

5

My favorite loss of deposit was with a terrible housemate I subletted from. Another guy moved in, and set up an at-home business that used a lot of long-distance (back before cell phones); so the original housemate, without notice, canceled long distance service.

I argued with her about it until she re-established long distance service, and started looking for a new place. When I moved out, she refused to return my security deposit because the new roommate wasn’t paying his long-distance bill, and it was my fault.

It was about two hundred bucks–enough, at the time, for me to really feel, but not enough to bother taking her to court over.

6

During our renting days we’d never get the full deposit back, just a portion, no matter how well we cared for the place. However, the last place we rented before buying our first house, a duplex with a low spot in the floor likely cause by deteriorating boards that were that way when we moved in, and we assumed would eat our deposit, the landlord gave us the full amount back. When asked, she said we’d need it for our new place. Wow!

But yeah, for the OP, you just benefitted from incompetence.

7

My guess: You put yourself in the top ~5% of tenants with this self-advocacy, and they judged you not worth the hassle and risk. The security deposits they steal from the other tenants will more than cover any damages you incurred.

8

I’ve lived in my apartment for a long time. I assumed that I wouldn’t get my deposit back until I moved out. After a few years, they gave me my deposit back although I still live there. Apparently after a certain number of years they give you your deposit back (unless you’ve done something to mess up the apartment) even though you’re still living there.

9

Varies by state. In some states the security deposit has to either be returned or put into an interest bearing account after a certain time and returning the money might be simpler for the landlord.

10

Perspective from the other side:

As a landlord who has never bothered to keep part of a deposit, I understand it being easier to just return it all, and be done with it.

Boulder, Colorado has very strict deposit rules. I’m only allowed to keep the exact amount I spend on allowed repairs, and I must provide actual receipts. I’ve had to do repairs after tenants, but $20 in materials and a few minutes of my own labor to fix something just are not worth the trouble of hiring someone to get a receipt to withhold the deposit. If I mess up the refund, I could have to pay triple damages (I think, might only be double). If it was something big, then I’d withhold, but just not worth the trouble for little things.

I have told prospective tenants about the Boulder code when they think they’re going to have trouble getting the deposit back on their existing place. Out of landlord greed, not actual damage; if it was actual damage, they would be a prospective tenant with very bad prospects of becoming my tenant.

11

We rented from a wack job that I knew was not going to return our deposit because of, “damage,” that didn’t happen. It is a very long convoluted story. So I didn’t pay the last months rent, the amount of the deposoit.

We actually left the place cleaner than when we moved in, and there was no damage.

12

You were probably never charged because you could have lodged some very serious complaints about your living situation had you chosen to do so. Perhaps they were trying to mollify you so that you wouldn’t do so.

13

We’ve got a fourplex. It’s work to itemize and document deductions, so I love giving back as much of a deposit as possible. And I hate hearing stories of tenants getting nickel and dimed (I’ve been there, too). It’s usually broken miniblinds, occasionally a light fixture.

We recently had a long-term tenant move out. The walls and floors were in rough shape, but the carpets and paint job were almost at their end-of-life. No charge. Busted up baseboards? I need to take all that off to replace the flooring anyway. No charge.

I don’t want to keep your deposit.