In all my many years of renting, I never got a security deposit back, no matter how many hours I spent cleaning the apartment within an inch of its life and no matter how spotless and move-in ready the apartment was when I moved out.
Never.
In one of my previous leases, it said they would deduct X from my deposit for cleaning or I could show them the rental receipt for a steam cleaner instead.
IIRC, in Florida a landlord has to legally clean or replace the carpets in between each tenant. If it’s a legal requirement for health and safety in your area to clean or replace the carpets, then I believe it would be understood that this expense would be coming out of your own pocket and not be an expense covered with the security deposit. Additionally, if you’re a landlord for more than one property, it might be a good idea to keep all security deposits in a separate bank account so that the deposits are guaranteed to be available on the occasion that the tenant is leaving and is entitled to the return of their security deposit.
The last time I moved out of a place that had a security deposit, I was transferring my name off the lease and another person’s name onto the lease; in this instance, I had forfeited the security deposit because of this action. If, when we move from this rental, I don’t receive the majority (if not all) of the security deposit after cleaning the premises, I will be requesting an itemized invoice showing what my security deposit was used on and why I was not entitled to receiving it back. Considering that my security deposit is being held in a separate account from my rents (according to the property mgmt company), I expect that it didn’t just disappear.
My last place I rented gave me every dime back. I expect this every time I rent. Pet deposits are Not returned but this had better be specified in the agreement. If you keep money from me you had better have a contract that says you can and be ready to prove you are right.
I have never gotten a full security deposit back, and cleaning/steam cleaning carpets has always been deducted.
Did I think it was fair? Not really, as I went over all of the places with a fine tooth comb before moving out…but in my opinion, it is fairly standard practice.
As I own pets and my pets do cause some minor damage no, I don’t expect the full security deposit back unless I foot the bill for all of those repairs myself. (Chief causalities of late seem to be window shades - which I have already replaced - but in the past there have been issues regarding stains, chewing, etc. - it can happen if you have pets)
As to whether or not it’s fair in the case of the OP - can’t say without looking. However, I agree that carpet cleaning and paint should be standard costs of prepping a rental unit borne by the landlord. Actually, cleaning the whole unit is standard maintenance, unless some unholy thing occurred. Unless otherwise stated in the lease, of course.
I only once did not get the deposit back - but we left on very bad terms and both us (the tenants) and them (the landlord) tried to screw the other.
We didn’t in our last apartment,but we accepted it because we’d done kind of a half-assed job in repainting (they stipulated that if we painted, we had to paint it back to a light color. We did, but I wasn’t happy with it). If the place had only had normal wear and cleaning wasn’t addressed in the lease, we’d have fought it.
In the Portland, OR Metro area I spent a few years living in several different apartment complexes for 50+ units for 6 months plus. When I left the first few I cleaned like a dog before I left so that there would be no excuse to not get the security deposit back.
Wasted effort - I didn’t get it back because they still needed a few hundred dollars to hire a cleaning company to ‘properly’ clean the apartment.
I should add I hardly was even in these apartments, I travelled a lot with my work and spent about 8-9 days a month if that at home. I am not a messy person and due to my cleaning efforts I probably left them in better shape than when I entered them.
Via certified mail and instructions from Clark Howard’s website I tried explaining the situation and asking my for my money back from the property management companies - to no avail. I wasn’t really willing to take it all the way to small claims court due to the inconvenience for a few hundred dollars.
After getting burned doing that a few times I wrote off the security deposit in my mind when I got a new place. I didn’t bother to clean up anything when leaving either. Their loss in my mind.
From talking to other renters in the Portland area, I got the impression that keeping all of the security deposit is pretty standard practice. Under the guise of needing to hire expensive cleaning companies they could keep 1/2 months rent easily.
This only applied to 50+ unit complexes. My dealings with smaller scale renters have been much better.
At the apartment I rented a long time ago, they specifically told us that the paint was expected to last two years. If we moved out after less than two years, and if the apartment needed to be repainted, we’d be charged some (I believe prorated) amount from the deposit.
Something similar for steam cleaning in the lease up front would be reasonable. With pets, you could plan to always steam clean afterward, but perhaps have an amount specified to be taken out from the deposit unless they are there two or three years.
According to the advice from our apartment owners’ association, the security deposit allows deductions for cleaning costs so that the apartment is at the same cleanliness level as at the beginning of tenancy. However, if the carpets are cleaned by the tenants on their own before moving out, that’s good enough.
Even when we do deduct for a pro cleaner, we use a guy who gives us a good deal, usually less than $50, and we give his number to tenants if they want to have him come out directly.
Our last tenant who moved out had their own steam cleaner and did a darn good job of it.
I can’t imagine landlords who keep the whole deposit. I worry about complaints about keeping $75 for repairs.
If you want to charge people for pet-related cleaning, charge a pet fee when they move in. Carpets are going to get dirty whether you have pets or not. If they pets actually ruined something, of course you should keep whatever would cover that, but not just normal wear & tear when you knew they had pets.
I expect my full security deposit back, though we paid a pet fee and do not expect that back.
I’ve always gotten mine with one exception for a carpet I stained, and I’ve been renting for 10 years.
I rented many places for many years, and getting my damage deposit back was always a crap shoot, in spite of me almost universally leaving the place in better condition than when I moved in (I too cleaned like a mad bastard to get my deposit back - no cleaning company would have cleaned it better). I also would consider a steam cleaning for the carpet and painting the walls to be the landlord’s normal maintenance between tenants, but I wasn’t too surprised when costs for things like this were deducted from my damage deposit. I did learn, however, to do an extremely thorough walkthrough the day I took possession of the apartment, with the rental agency, and noted every little thing.
I’m glad I own now. 
I expect my full security deposit back because I always leave it better then when I got it.
My Dad owned rentals and he always painted and had the carpets cleaned after each tenant left. He wrote it off on his taxes and didn’t pass it on to the tenent. That is considered normal wear and tear.
Sounds like they were good tenants so I would give them their deposit back. My apartment didn’t have clean rugs when I moved in and I ended up doing them. i have a great landlord who moved me to a nicer part of town so I ate it.
I have always gotten my full deposit back, except for disclosed-up-front nonrefundable pet deposits. I had a friend in MA who did not get his back (landlady claimed he put holes in the ceiling, which was not true), and successfully sued his landlady for treble damages. He got a lien on her house until she paid him.
I would definitely second the suggestion to look into landlord-tenant laws in your state. You might be surprised.
Yes I expect to get it back. My last landlord didn’t give me back a dime of my $1,550 deposit so I sued her and won. (though the whole process was a big pain in the ass and it took over a year to actually get the money back)
In California the laws are pretty favorable toward renters. I’ll echo the above posters’ comments to acquaint yourself with the relevant laws of your state.
The last apartment (actually a condo unit) I rented required a $100 non-refundable pet deposit for my cat; the lease also stipulated that I had to have the carpets professionally cleaned (and provide a copy of the receipt for it). When I moved out I wasn’t sure if I’d get my full deposit back because one of the walls had been slightly damaged (I had attempted to repair it myself, but it was still visible), and even after the carpet was cleaned there were patches of cat hair in some areas of the carpet. But apparently the owner decided it wasn’t severe enough to warrant charging me for it. I’ve always wondered if it was because the unit was being sold anyway; after I informed the owner’s management service that I was not planning to renew the lease because I was planning to buy a house they sent me a letter offering to sell me the condo at a slight reduction from the planned asking price.
I agree with the rest. Normal wear and tear is the responsibility of the owner; the renters pay to live there, not to not-live there. Deposits are for actual damage issues.
That being said, every landlord I’ve had has kept everything, even after walk-throughs WITH said landlords to verify everything’s fine, and now I just assume the deposit is lost and pound whatever nails into whatever walls I want to, and don’t worry about stains in carpets. Not worth fighting over. You want the deposit? Fine. You can use it to return the place to pristine condition. I’m not helping.
If the tenent stayed a year, and there is a year’s worth of wear and tear, you aren’t entitled to anything.
Security deposits are for excessive damage not normal wear and tear. They are also not for routine maintence, which is yearly painting and yearly carpet cleaning. As a landlord you should be refreshing paint and cleaning carpets every year, even if the tenant stays.
Of course in the real world, I’ve never gotten my deposit back. Of course I’ve never had a nice flat so it’s expected that you’ll lose it.
This is why a lot of tenants default on the last month. They figure it’s a tit for tat rip off