Tenant disputing security deposit refund
This is my first experience as a landlord, and what a headache this one tenant has been.
When the lease with a pair of tenants renting our condo lapsed, they never informed me that they desired an initial inspection, despite my offering of it to them in writing with about 45 days left on the lease.
After they vacated, I had a brief list of things that needed to be addressed:
- The condo was much dirtier than when I initially handed it over to them (I hired a cleaning service to do a 'move-in' cleaning of the empty unit before they moved in).
- There was a nickel-sized hole punched through one of my floorboards with some kind of cheap resin patch job done to address it, this looked like someone jumped on a couch and put the foot through the board
- The carpets in both bedrooms where pretty dirty; not vacuumed and had an off smell to them. (I also had the carpets professionally cleaned before they moved in as well.)
- One tenant claimed his garage remote was stolen from his car and he also broke his building key. The HOA mailed him new keys/devices and billed my account accordingly. This was ~60 days before the lease ended.
Steps I had taken after assessing the condo:
- Hired a cleaning service to clean the condo and return it to the condition I originally handed it to them ($50)
- Made a good faith estimate on my own of ($125) to repair the floorboard, but an actual estimate came out to $250. I'm totally fine with honoring the $125 I originally sent them, though.
- Hired a carpet cleaning service to clean the carpets ($100)
- Got an actual invoice from the HOA regarding the cost to replace the garage remote and building key ($50 & $100, respectively)
I split the cleaning/repairs between them @ $137.50 and added $150 to the tenant who had new keys and garage remotes.
Within 21 days after the lease ended I mailed them both their refunds and itemized list of deductions via certified mail. Tenant A, who only had $137.50 deducted, cashed his check the day he received it. Tenant B, (who has always been the difficult one, very entitled) who had $287.50 deducted, sent me a text message telling me he was entitled to a full refund and he disputes my charges. He feels he isn't responsible for losing my garage remote or breaking my key, and says I should complain to the HOA about how much those things cost, but it isn't his problem(?), and that he's never had a security deposit withheld from any of his previous leases (That's my problem...how?).
I wouldn't put it past B to threaten me with a small claims court suit over the money, and I'm nervous that some loophole or nitpick detail is going to bite me in the behind. I'm not sure how you could take pictures of dirty, un-vacuumed carpets, or record the smell of the rooms, so I don't have pictures of those. I do have pictures of the damaged floorboard, though.
This is my first time as a landlord, and I've gone over the CA tenant handbook a dozen times to make sure I'm doing everything as above board as possible, but I'm looking for some kind of assurance that I'm in the clear if I get taken to small claims.
Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!