So I have a two BR townhouse and for the past year I have had two great tenants with absolutely no issues. These are the first tenants I have ever had. We will call them 1 and 2. Well, 1 decides she wants to move out at the end of their lease (May 31st). 2 wants to stay. Great! So I signed a new lease with tenant 2 and collected a new security deposit. I did a walkthrough just to find out the condition of the house and determine how much security they would receive back from the first lease. Well, 1's bathroom was filthy. They hadn't cleaned it at all. The first floor (All common area, kitchen, Living room, 1/2 bath, and dining room) was worse. Mold in bath, on window seals, and baseboards. Crumbs and food everywhere! they haven't cleaned the microwave once in the past year nor the oven. The stove and outside of the oven has a thick layer of grease on it. There was food splashed on the walls. it was pretty bad. So I decide I will charge a small cleaning fee to get the townhouse back to where it was when I first rented it to them. (16% of their total security deposit). Also, there is a pretty large gash/scrape in the laminate floors on the first floor. I decide to charge a fee to get that fixed as well. (5% of total security). So, now for the interesting part, the mother of tenant 1 calls me. She threatens me with small claims court and tells me all this is normal wear and tear and "how can I expect not to find hair on the toilet after someone has lived there a year".

How would yall handle this? I honestly don't know what to do. I really don't want to go to court over less than $300. Is this normal?