Deposit Return Letter Example - Early Termination

[Isaac Isaacson]

Does anyone have a deposit return letter they can link to or send? I am not seeing one in the resource section.

This will be the first time I am keeping a substantial amount of a tenant's deposit and want to make sure the letter says everything it needs to. Obviously, I will be itemize everything as well.

Also, this is an unsual situation, so any advise/suggestions is appreciated... We both agreed to early termination after the property was substantially damaged by a recent hurricane. They stayed in the house two weeks after that while looking for another place. I finally gave them 2/3 (2 of $3k) of their deposit back just to get them the hell out so I could address the damages and keep them from getting worse (flooded, wooden floors buckled, mold growing underneath, etc). Obviously they are not responsible for any of the weather related damage; however, they had the power shut off and left spilt food all in the fridge/freezer, did not clean any bathrooms or kitchen, broke the built-in stereo system, left nails in every wall, paid nothing for the 14+ days after damage (we agreed to 50% of regular rent), the list goes on.

Tenants were in the house literally a month before this hurricane hit. They have been nothing but problems, threatening me with lawyers daily, calling me names, breaking pet policy (counted 6 dogs at one time), "injuring" themselves and filing under my liability policy, etc... all reasons I decided to evoke termination... Rant done. Thanks.