Security Deposit Question - Items left behind

[Bob Mazza]

Hello BP - It has been a while.

I just had a tenant leave a unit after providing 30 days notice. He was a day late in moving, contacted me to say everything was moved out and when I arrived that was not the case, There was a huge couch and big lamp in a small unit that takes a lot of space. Needless to say 5 days after he was supposed to be out he finally came to get it May 31 move out turned into June 4th.

I had a potential renter who passed up on the place because it was not truly "vacant"

Additionally, the place was not cleaned, there was damage to a few places from the move and he broke a screen for one of the windows. 

I called him the next few days to square away the security deposit but he never responded. Almost a month later he is asking for his balance in full via venmo, again he has not called me back.

I want to explain to him all the reasons why he will not receive his balance in full but am not going to hunt this guy down. He has my number and can call me anytime.

His security was 1475, of which I had already returned $750 in good faith leaving a balance of $725. Given that he did not move out plus damages and cleaning he will not get the full amount from me.

Any thoughts?