Tenant forfeited security deposit with repairs needing to be made to the property.

[Mike Holland]

I am selling a single family home in Bellevue,  NE in which the tenants refused to allow showings,  shorter notice showings, and lock boxes for the last 30 days of their lease.   In the lease they're are stipulations for all of these things to occur and if not the lease will be forfeited.  

They vacated the premises yesterday with significant painting,  patching,  and repairs needed.  Again per the lease, all such repairs required professional work to be accomplished.  They did not have these professionally fixed prior to lease termination. In addition to this, there were items in need of repair that they did not report by the terms of the lease that got worse because of the lack of reporting.  

With the security deposit being forfeited as a penalty for delaying/refusing entry; costing us potential buyers and an extra month on the market, can the tenant be billed for the repairs for the damage to the property.  As a whole,  I'm estimating the repairs to exceed the amount for the security deposit.  

Thanks in advance for the assistance.  

Mike H.

[Jon Holdman]

Does your lease address such a penalty?  Is that covered by NV law? Have you spoken with an attorney about this? I seriously doubt you can assess such a penalty and get it to stand up in court.  Their refusal to allow showings is an expensive pain, but I don't think you'll be able to actually get any money for it.  Instead, you should deduct the repairs from the deposit and bill them for any excess.  That will stand up in court.