Tenant won't pay security deposit despite damages

[Tim Lin]

Hi everyone,

A tenant is moving out and I noticed some damages such as dented/chipped door frame, possibly happened when he moved his furnitures in. I brought this up and he casually brushed it off saying something along the lines of "it was already there, he never notices it, it's not much to fix." He'll be moving out within the next few days and I'll do a full inspection then. I'm a fairly new landlord and next time I'm thinking of including a video and/or photos of the room's condition to the contract.

My questions are:

1) What's a good way to handle this as a landlord if he ends up refusing to pay for damages? Hopefully there's no more.

2) What are some precautionary steps you take to avoid dispute, ambiguity (he said, she said) or situations like this? 

Thank you,

Tm

[Lynn McGeein]

Your lease should state something about him accepting the property in it's current condition and he should have had x days to submit a list of items he finds, like damage in trim, etc.  If it's not on  the list at start of lease, then he's responsible for the damage if it doesn't fall under normal wear and tear.  If you don't have those clauses in the lease, don't have a list of items he found at move-in, and don't have pictures or video from move-in, then it will be difficult to deduct from his security deposit when he leaves.  If it's minor, it may not be worth the effort, and some states will allow a tenant to sue for X times the disputed amount, so check your landlord/tenant laws for how to handle the deposit, and follow them.  States are very particular about security deposits, so make sure you are following your area's requirements.