Can I keep portion of security deposit?

[Carleton C.]

Backstory:

I moved out of my home, decided to rent it out, and hired a property manager. Property manager found 4 students to rent the home and they all signed one joint lease (each had co-signers as well).

Since I did not need my furniture at my new location I decided to sell it on fb marketplace for $700. On the last day before the new tenants moved in, I received a fb message from a guy requesting to purchase all of the furniture. I notice the name looked familiar and it turns out that it is one of the students who is renting my place. I told him I would just leave the furniture in place and they could pay me through Venmo. He said that he was gathering the rest of the money from the other 3 and then he’d get it to me.

Fast forward to today (11 months later) and the tenants are moving out in 2 weeks but still haven’t paid for the furniture. I’ve requested the money for the furniture multiple times and I still haven’t received it. My property manager even reached out to them about it, even though she stated (to me) she couldn’t enforce it, since it was a separate transaction from the lease agreement. Since they paid their rent on time and weren’t responding to the payment requests, I figured I would let it go until close to the end of tenancy.

Can I take the money owed out of their security deposit even though it was a separate transaction from the lease, my property manager holds the security deposit funds, and only one of the tenants requested to buy? Or should I just chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. I have ALL written communication from the tenant where they agreed to purchase and pay, along with the attempts to collect. Originally I was just going to settle it through court if they didn’t pay, but with all of the covid stuff going on, that’s out of the question for a while.

[Patricia Steiner]

No.  You actually never sold your furniture to them. The one tenant let you know that he was still collecting money for it and he would "get back" to you.  There was interest - but not a sale.  The best you can do now is to make sure the furniture doesn't get legs and walks out with the tenants at the end of the lease. Your property manager needs to do a final walk with all their belongings out before you release the security deposit.