my first landlord experience

[Dee Neal]

uugghhhh 
I dont think i like tenants. 

Well i have my tenants their notice after a long two years. I can't believe they expect a deposit back with the way they left my house. the home had fresh paint, new floors downstairs (carpet was upstairs) they left the home a filthy message, my downstairs floors are way damaged, ive got holes in walls, baseboard trim hanging off, missing doors, missing shower head, she stuck a bunch of steel wool all in my stove which ive never dealt with that and dont know if to just take it out or replace it for fear of missing some fibers and having my new tenant start using the stove and it catch fire. 

just eyeballing the damage to the property, she's in the negative as far as the deposit goes. 

what do landlords normally deduct from security deposit? 

[Dale Walker]

Dee,

Take Pictures of everything!!! Document ALL damage. Keep a list and make a reasonable cost of repair for the damages they did. 

If you withhold deposit for any damage, have a picture of it. If you end up in court, the judge will expect you to have documentation and pictures of each damage you claim/cost you withhold. 

If damages exceed deposit, send them a list of the damages and invoice them for the balance due minus the security deposit.  Remember though to not include reasonable wear and tear. Don't try to charge them for new carpets, new floors etc. Charge for depreciated carpet and floors etc. 

I recommend you use a list as Brian said which details what you will charge if certain repairs will cost. This needs to be part of your lease so this list won't help with your current issue but will for future tenants. 

One thing I do is take pictures then email the pictures to my email. This gives it a date/time stamp. The tenant in court can't claim those pictures were taken before they moved in as the email shows it was taken on the day they moved out.  Tenants always want ALL their deposit back and rarely accept that their damage is their fault.  Always take pictures before they move in and after they move out!!