Security deposit obligations

[Terri P.]

In the history of Tenant-Landlording, I’m sure my situation is not unique: I had one of those tenants that looks great on paper and loved by the neighbors but was horrible near the end over the security deposit.

The short version: dramatic tenant initially refused to give me his forwarding address. Certified letter with the security deposit refund was returned to sender when I sent it to last known address. Finally gave me his new address, certified letter still got returned. Now tenant is requesting that I send deposit refund electronically. I’m not sure how to approach this since I prefer sending a check. Also, debating on the best approach because he isn’t the greatest person and doesn’t deserve another minute of my time.

For details/background:

The guy is military and is a resident surgeon (yep, future surgeon of America). He broke the lease 2 months early with the excuse that he was moving closer to his military base. I knew it was an excuse but I was treating the rental as a hobby and wasn’t going to sweat the small things since it wasn’t going to be difficult to re-rent the home. Because of COVID, I have not completed a home inspection in the ~2+ years he’d been there. There was water damage to the ceiling in the office and when I asked him about it, he swore he didn’t look up and didn’t know about it. It was difficult to get roofers out at the time as we had just went through a wet season and spring was the time for people to fix their homes. Still, I wasn’t going to charge him for the repairs, I just wanted him gone.

We did a final walkthrough together after he’d completely moved out. Per our lease, the yard was tenant responsibility and he’d let it grow wild. He claimed that because I had planned on doing a yard makeover, he understood that he didn’t need to clean it. I took the time to get bids for the yard cleanup but still gave him the option to get his own bids because he thought the price I received was too expensive. To my surprise, he opted to clean the yard himself and set a date for two days later. The following day, we were at the property cleaning up the backyard and digging up weeds to re-mulch a small area. I knew he wasn’t going to clean the backyard thoroughly so we opted to do it ourselves. I put a lock on the back gate. 

On day #2, I came by to clean up and he was already in the front yard clearing out the weeds with his girlfriend. The task was more than he had anticipated and he was growing upset. When he was getting ready to leave (still a messy yard but better than before, with yard waste on a tarp in the driveway) he asked for his full deposit back and I told him I am required by law to return his deposit within 21 days but he needed to remove the yard waste on the driveway. He and his girlfriend were questioning why I’m withholding his money if that was the last thing he needed to do. They had wanted to intimidate me into sending him the refund via Venmo, then and there. I refused to do that and reminded him that he was breaking the lease early and I was doing my best to get the home ready and rented to mitigate costs. He flipped a switch and started yelling and screaming,
stating he was a protected class with military rights and he would take me to court, etc etc. He then threatened to call the police claiming that I was trespassing his home since he’d paid until the end of that month. He also refused to leave unless I sent him an email or text message stating that I would refund him his full deposit. I told him the conversation wasn’t productive and went inside.

He followed up with text messages threatening to take me to court for trespassing, accusing me of charging military too much deposit (not yet a law when he signed the lease), and how dare I put a lock on my gate. I informed him I would notify his military base about his conduct and ask them to confirm his PCS Order for his early lease termination. He was appalled that I would threaten to destroy his entire career over a disagreement that I was equally at fault. 

Despite the drama, and against the advice of my colleagues, I agreed to refund him over $200 after charging him for 1 month’s rent (he actually owed two months according to the lease, and did not return to remove the yard waste). I asked him for the forwarding address which he refused and preferred Venmo. I then informed him I was sending the check to his last known address. The post office returned the certified letter. He sent me an email to follow up, at which point I told him the letter had been returned. He then gave me his new address and again, it was returned to my PO Box. His girlfriend, who was not my tenant, followed up in an email and I instructed her to retrieve the letter from the post office because they held onto the previous certified letter going to my PO Box until I came for it. He emailed me today with different options to send him his money: Venmo, Zelle, Wire Transfer, PayPal. 

What would you? At this point, he’d waisted my time at the post office x 3 (sending, retrieving, sending it again, and probably a 4th time to retrieve the second returned mail). I had initially refused Venmo because I don’t ever want to see his name on my activity log.