Security deposit to cover unauthorized pet fees?

Question

Can a security deposit be used to cover unauthorized pet fees in a rental? I have a tenant that moved out and they had two unauthorized pets, a cat and a dog. I confronted them about this since the lease clearly states that no pets are allowed, and further calls for a fee of $50 per day, per animal. They admit to having the pets and acknowledge they would owe all fees. They even specified the date they got the animals and calculated what they owed, which was well over $10,000. I know there is no way they could ever pay that, but now that they have moved out, can the security deposit reflect that they owed significant pet fees and they will therefore not be receiving a refund of their deposit? To me the easy answer is yes, but I wanted to get some other thoughts. Many thanks.

Jacob Sampson · Answer

More than likely the security deposit can only go to damages. Further, if it were to go to court the court would, likely, not uphold your pet fees. $50/day is unreasonable.

Claude S. · Answer

@Brian LedbetterHow did you not know about the pets? Do you not do inspections periodically? My lease states pets not approved is grounds for termination of lease.

Jingru Sui · Answer

$50/day is really too high. I add $25/month/pet and up to 2 pet per property in my policy. Did their pet do any damage to your property? I will estimate the damage and deduct only the damage from security deposit.

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Brian LedbetterWell, not sure any of that would hold up in court. $50 a day is crazy. And since they are moved out, I would go the path of least resistance. Go over the property with a fine toothed comb and fix what is needed and charge damage deposit. I’m not a believer in attempting to just keep their money because I “can”. I don’t make money on damage deposits, but use it for its intended purpose.

Hubert Kim · Answer

I am not certain this applies to each city and state in the U.S., but in California a security deposit may only be used for cleaning, repairs and past due rents. Also, deductions to a security deposit are to be necessary and reasonable.The tenant breached the lease. During tenancy, you may have had an opportunity to charge reasonable pet fees or evict. However, since the tenancy has been terminated, it may not be possible to legally require any fees now.As others have suggested, make sure you deduct for all cleaning and repairs that you are entitled to. If you want to take it further, speak with the former tenant on a mutually agreeable deduction to the security deposit that s/he will sign off for.

Kevin Manz · Answer

@unreasonable I charge $15 a day for unauthorized pets. Is that unreasonable?? We all know pet damage can add up real quick and make $50 a day seem realistic. The difference between turning a unit that did and didn't have a animal is day and night.

Sam Shueh · Answer

cleaning cost with receipts.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

@Brian Ledbetter good luck enforcing that fee in court. Something that unreasonable could work against you and may result in you getting nothing or even penalties. You are only due monetary damages for actual damage from the pets. That would be any cleaning, deodorizing expenses or any physical damage to the property. If there was no damage, then you are due nothing.I wish people would stop saying, "it depends on what your lease says". I could put any nonsense I wanted in my lease and that hardly makes it legal or enforceable in court.Courts award based on actual damages so you need to prove the damages and document the expenses with receipts. If you can't do that, unfortunately you get nothing for "pain and suffering."

Brian Ledbetter · Answer

So the general agreement here is that $50 per day is “crazy”, but is there no recourse for having multiple pets for over a year when the lease clearly stated that pets are not allowed? What if it were $2 per day, would that be more reasonable? If the only way to recoup costs from their violation of the lease agreement is through cleaning pet damages, what’s the point of having any such fees in a lease?

JD Martin · Answer

I would be inclined to agree with this. Especially if there weren't any damages. You can do anything you want if you can make it stand up in court. My guess is that unless you could show substantial damage you'd be hard-pressed to win this in court if they wanted to make an issue of it. If it were me, I would figure out what extra cleaning/damage might be attributable to the pets, get that taken care of from the deposit, and send them the difference.