Am I in the right to keep her deposit?

Question

Pictures of a few spots but every corner of the house is like this throughout. 1,400 sq ft.

Paint was a year old in great shape when she moved in and she was here less than a year. Every room has a few pieces of furniture/personal belongings. Every inch is filthy, crayon, stickers and animal feces everywhere. Washer hookups are broken. Also lots of small things filter & smoke detector batteries need changed, hardware is missing from one cabinet. I'm shocked that she is expecting something back. I'm itemizing as required but it's hard to know how much is fair to charge for things when we do a lot of the work ourselves. The "normal wear and tear" thing confuses me too. If it's beyond normal, do I just charge what it costs to fix it or do I have to discount the cost for "normal wear and tear"?

My lease does require and I reminded the tenant that the property needed to be thoroughly cleaned although professional cleaning is not required. Everything else listed above is also required by lease.

Big ticket item here is the cleaning. What would you itemize for cleaning? We're leaning towards $800. I got that quote for a similar sq ft house although that was a construction clean out so not sure if pricing would be similar. I see most housekeepers charge like $400 for a deep clean in my area but certainly this level of filth would cost more?

Located in Virginia.

JD Martin · Answer

Easy answer - hire out the work to be done. Why do it yourself when you have a deposit to cover those things?

Most states, if you do it yourself you can't charge for your labor. So you can work for free or you can use the deposit for what it's there for, covering damages, cleaning etc.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Emiline Lyell itemize it out. Also figure disposal costs (mattresses especially) and I am going to guess your stairs need repainting (maybe dark blue or brown treads this time) that is not normal wear and tear. Look like you would be able to charge for repainting crayoned walls as this is not normal wear and tear. I don't know what the deposit is but even if you figure just supplies for some of this stuff it will add up. I would have people do at least some of this work you will lose time market if you don't. As @JD Martin says you can't charge for your own work in a lot of states.

Andrew Freed · Answer

@Emiline Lyell - Do you have pictures of the unit beforehand to show the condition? Did you complete a move in report (BP has a template if you have the upgraded membership). I think that is important in case she tries to bring on legal recourse. Normally, before a tenant moves in, you want to take pictures and complete a property move in report. Hence if something like this happens and you collect the security deposit, you have that paperwork to fall back on if it goes to court. Otherwise it turns into a he said/she said scenario. I live in a tenant friendly state hence the tenant normally wins under the circumstances unless you have evidence to back up your claim.

David Peschio · Answer

As long as you have pictures of condition of home before which clearly show a different state upon move out you will be fine. Really difficult for them to argue once a baseline for move in is established.

Emiline Lyell · Answer

Yes we did a move-in inspection with a checklist and she signed. I think we took pictures although I'd have to go looking.

Melanie P. · Answer

Send it some vendors to give quotes and itemize the quotes in your disposition of security deposit notice. There's more here than just cleaning. There's repairs to the flooring and staircase. From your pictures it does seem like you used some kind of porch paint on the floor and other flooring has gaps that seem to be a bad installation. Be careful about noting anything regarding these items.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Normal wear and tear is perhaps a small scuff mark on a wall. This is beyond normal wear and tear. Filters and batteries on smoke alarms, I would just replace and not charge her, but the cleaning and damage add in the cost of materials. For removing the items, do gas and dump fees. Cleaning-hire a cleaner. Give her a list of everything you needed to get it back to pre-move in condition along with photos. If she's left it like that, she can't be expecting to get all of her deposit back.

Am I in the right to keep her deposit?

Am I in the right to keep her deposit?

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