"When one roommate leaves and one or more others remain in tenancy, the entire deposit will be held until the apartment is vacated and surrendered to the owner. 

So kind of like an ARM, 90%+ of homeowners were unable to pay an additional $500-800/mo over normal and surrendered their homes to the bank.

Well, if they have whole life policies, the money can't be surrendered or taken.

There are only three ways to gain lawful possession (1) the owner surrenders possession to you and you have it in writing so you have proof in case he/she later lies about it; or (2) the property is abandoned, which is different from vacant and neglected for a long time.

If some occupant has possession and you have ownership, then eviction of the occupant would be required for you to gain possession (unless you get the occupant to voluntarily surrender possession).

(B) Registered form The term “registered form” has the same meaning as when used in section 163 (f). (3) Exceptions The Secretary may, by regulations, provide that this subsection and section 1287 shall not apply with respect to obligations held by any person if— (A) such person holds such obligations in connection with a trade or business outside the United States, (B) such person holds such obligations as a broker dealer (registered under Federal or State law) for sale to customers in the ordinary course of his trade or business, (C) such person complies with reporting requirements with respect to ownership, transfers, and payments as the Secretary may require, or (D) such person promptly surrenders the obligation to the issuer for the issuance of a new obligation in registered form, but only if such obligations are held under arrangements provided in regulations or otherwise which are designed to assure that such obligations are not delivered to any United States person other than a person described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).

Confirmation of Vacating Premises & Surrender of Keys 18.

He has avoided detection because the dollar amount is relatively small.If he claims the money belongs to someone else, then it needs to be surrendered as abandoned property.

Appeal to common sense - - offer all payments to be refunded to surrender the keys and voluntarily terminate the lease by "mutual agreement" (get a signed release).Be nice, soft and suggest:He will never be happy and you don't what him to suffer with that 'environmental sensitivity' Yes, you'll lose a rent but only for a short time and you can move on to more productive applicants. 

To access the money, you either take a loan or surrender your policy (which leaves you open to surrender fees) or you die and the money goes to your beneficiaries.