Return of Security Deposit

[Chris Lombardi]

To get to the point, my question is how nit picky do you get when determining how much of the security deposit to return?

So I purchased my first 2 family home back in November and gave the first floor tenant until January 1 to move out so I could move in.  He was very accommodating and all went well.  I've picked up the keys from him and told him to give me a week to inspect the place and assess how much of the security deposit will be returned.

I haven't gone through everything with a fine comb, but it generally looks good.  There's some chips in the paint on the walls and some of the blinds are broken, but nothing major so far.  How do you decipher between:

• Normal wear and tear
• Small things that you ignore
• Items worthy of deducting from security deposit

[Cara Lonsdale]

Do you have a move-in sheet from when the tenant first moved in and inspected the property himself?  If so, work from that to determine condition that is different from the original condition at move in.

If not, then you can't charge for anything as you can't prove that the current tenant is responsible.

If you DO have a move in sheet to work from........

Know your shelf life of stuff.  You cannot charge for these things if they are beyond their shelf life.  Example, carpet has a 4 year shelf life.  If your carpet is more than 4 years old, it doesn't matter how many stains they put on it, you can't charge them (and have it hold up in court).

Holes in the wall bigger than a small nail hole can be charged for patching.  The blinds I would charge for since these needs to be replaced (unless they were on his list as previously broken).

Also, make accommodation for how long he has lived there.  If he is a long term tenant and the worst of it is a few chips in the paint and a couple of broken blinds, I would probably let that slide.