Question about tenant deposits

[Oles B.]

I've normally been a lurker here, but I recently closed on my first property with my brother, so maybe I'll be a little more active from here on out 🙂

We bought a duplex that has tenants on each side who have lived there since 2013. Their deposits are both $1000 each. One of the tenants agreed to move out in order to make space for us, since we're sort of doing a live-in flip/house hack situation.

My question is, how often does an entire tenant's deposit get taken? I am new to property management obviously, so I dont know if that's something that happens frequently and if I will get the tenants angry if I do so. These tenants generally seemed pretty clean, but 8 years is a long time, and they accidentally drove into the garage door like two years ago. The garage door doesn't close fully, and has a damaged panel. The entire place needs paint since it hasn't been touched in 8 years, and there's plenty of chips on the tile in the kitchen. They also caused a pest issue (that has been resolved), but these pests chewed through the shower wall in the master bathroom, and the tenants just taped it over.

To me, it seems warranted to take the whole deposit at the moment. Is this a normal thing to do, especially after 8 year tenants? Also, I assume that I have to let the tenant know that I am doing so, if I end up taking all of it.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Oles B.:

The law says you can't charge them for ordinary wear-and-tear. 8-year-old paint is not something you would charge them for. Running into the garage door should be charged to them, whatever it costs to repair/replace.

In my business, about 80% of our tenants get 90-100% of their deposit back. 15% of our tenants lose a large portion of their deposit, and maybe 5% lose their entire deposit and/or leave owing money.