Landlord keeping your deposit unfairly

There's a difference between a landlord who kept your deposit and a landlord who kept it legitimately. Most states allow deductions for unpaid rent and for damage beyond normal wear and tear — and that second phrase is where nearly every dispute lives.

Normal wear and tear vs. damage

Nobody agrees on the line, but there's a workable test: would this have happened anyway if a careful tenant lived here for the same length of time?

Generally wear and tear: faded paint, carpet worn thin in walkways, small nail holes, loose handles, worn finishes, minor scuffs.

Generally damage: burns, pet stains, large holes, broken fixtures, missing items, anything requiring replacement rather than touch-up.

The length of the tenancy matters. Carpet worn after four years is different from carpet worn after four months.

Deductions that are commonly not allowed

Routine cleaning. Most states don't let a landlord charge for standard turnover cleaning unless you left the place unusually dirty.

Repainting between tenants. Often treated as an ordinary cost of doing business, particularly after a longer tenancy.

Pre-existing conditions. If it was broken when you arrived, it isn't your damage — this is where a move-in checklist or dated photos become decisive.

Full replacement for a partly-worn item. A landlord replacing a five-year-old carpet often can't charge you the full cost of a new one, because the old one had already used up most of its life.

Unspecified charges. A number with no explanation isn't an itemization.

The itemization requirement

Most states require a written, itemized statement of deductions within the same window as the return deadline.

This is the requirement landlords fail most often, and it matters more than it sounds. In some states, failing to itemize properly forfeits the right to deduct at all — meaning the whole deposit is owed regardless of what the unit looked like.

So if you received a lump sum deduction with a vague description, check your state's rule before arguing about whether the charge was fair. The procedural failure may be the stronger argument.

What actually settles these

Move-in photos. Dated images of the condition when you arrived are the single most useful thing you can have. They convert "they're lying" into a comparison.

A move-in condition checklist. If your landlord had you complete one, find it.

Move-out photos. Taken after you cleared out, ideally the same day you handed over keys.

Receipts. If you had the carpets professionally cleaned, that receipt answers the cleaning charge directly.

Without photos you're not out of the running, but you're arguing about condition without evidence of condition — and that's a harder position.

Disputing it

Respond in writing, itemize your own position line by line, accept what's fair, and state what you're disputing and why. Reference the statute if the itemization was late or inadequate.

A response that concedes the reasonable charges and disputes the rest is far more effective than one that rejects everything.