Security Deposit Return - Small Claims Court

[raegan1215]

Hi there. My husband and I own a two family house in Troy, NY. We spent two years gutting and renovating it. The first tenants we rented to have now moved out and we had to keep about half of their security deposit to repair damage, steam clean the carpets and re-key the locks. They are now taking us to small claims court for all of the money we kept ($500) and we're looking for a little advice.

There were many gouges out of the trim, marks on the walls etc. We purchased wood filler, sand paper, painting supplies and paint to repair that.

They left a lot of garbage and unwanted furniture on the back porch. We charged them $50 to haul it away and to clean the porch - they had stored all of their food garbage on that porch while they lived there and it was disgusting.

We replaced a set of blinds they had damaged.

We had a locksmith come and re-key the two locks they did not return all the keys to.

We had the carpets steam cleaned. There were stains (which did not come out) and smoke smell. We have emails between us and them and had conversations asking them to not smoke (it was not in the lease but as far as I can tell, smoke damage is not considered "wear and tear") or we'd have to clean the carpets. They told us they'd do what they wanted.

We have photos of everything. We have receipts for everything. When they left we walked through and they watched us take photos. All four of us (two of them, my husband and myself) all signed a document listing all of this. When we returned the partial deposit we sent them photocopies of all the documentation.

Since then we have gotten a threatening email from them and now a court summons. Obviously my husband and I are pretty secure that we acted appropriately but perhaps someone here can offer advice as to what we can do to be prepared for court? Thanks!

 

[mightymoose]

If you have photos and receipts you should be good. When you say you provided them with copies of all the documents, I assume you mean that they were provided an itemized list of the deductions from their deposit...

If this is the case, you really don't have much to worry about. They are certainly allowed to sue you and are likely doing so because they are angry/broke. Show up to court with a few copies of all your documentation. Show all of this to the judge and it will be up to the judge to determine what was or what was not a reasonable deduction.

You could be ordered to repay all or some of the $500, but I would bed that the tenants will not be as prepared as you are and won't get much of anything.

You will need to be prepared to describe all the damages and explain how it was beyond ordinary wear and tear.

 

[raegan1215]

Yes, that is what we provided them - a breakdown of every purchase for all supplies and services to return the apartment to the same condition it was rented to them in. We also gave them a photocopy of the walkthrough form, their lease and photocopies for all receipts for all of the repairs.

So, do we bring copies of all of that stuff or the originals?

Am I correct that smoke damage (in this case very strong smell in what were brand new carpets - we have the install receipt too that was from a month before they moved in) is not "wear and tear" in NY?

What about our rekeying the locks? Is that an okay thing to have charged them for? I figured I'm going to present two emails from them that are rather threatening (one so bad I called the police because the tenant said he was going to "take care of this personally" and that he "does not let things go NO MATTER WHAT" and the police went to him and told him to cut the emails out and handle the matter in court) which made us feel justified in it being unsafe for them to have keys to our house - both for us and for our new tenants.

Anything else we need to bring with us or prepare ourselves for?

THANK YOU!

 

[mightymoose]

If you go to court, at a minimum have a copy for yourself, a copy for the tenant, and a copy for the court.

As for your smoke issue... that may be for the judge to determine. There was nothing in the lease forbidding smoking, so I am not sure about the concern you have with the smell. If you have something from the carpet cleaner that says the scent could not be removed and the only option was replacement (which probably is not the case) then that would help you. Usually carpet cleaning is something that falls under normal wear unless there is something significant about it... which is going to be totally up to you to explain how out of the ordinary the smoke smell was.

You can probably get away with changing the locks since they did not return the keys. That is a security issue, even without the email threats.

Simply put- be prepared to explain the damages in detail, making sure that for each item you specify exactly why you believe it was beyond normal wear and tear and deducted from the deposit.

 

[TomAnderson]

Regarding the return of deposits to subletters

I'm not sure if it is appropriate to post within this topic, but I similarly am located in New York and dealing with a deposit return issue.

Firstly, I am the sole leaseholder in a 3 bedroom apartment. In January of this year, a new roommate moved in. This person then gave me notice only 6 days prior to rent was due before moving out. At the time they owed me several hundred dollars in utilities and cable bills. Beyond giving such a short notice, they left a filthy room full of furniture that I had to clean and dispose of at my own expense.

Furthermore, aside from sending me an e-mail informing me they would be leaving, I was unable to get any response from this person regarding their belongings, rent, bills etc. until I threatened to dispose of their possessions myself. At that point they came in while I was out, took their valuables, but left behind furniture.

This is someone I new prior to moving in, and as such we had no written or clear verbal agreement regarding deposits etc. Clearly a mistake on my part, but I have a reason to mistrust them at the time.

Of course they are now requesting their deposit back, and I have informed them I intend to keep it to cover the bills, cleaning, disposal costs, and inconvenience of their short notice. The deposit is $600. Utilities and cable will be somewhere over $200(May bill has not arrived). Do I have the right to do so? If there is no agreement in place of any kind, are there standard terms?

I think this may be a somewhat strange question, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.