You want something here, you either take your chance the tenants will not fight you on the deposit and perhaps win in court or you just move on and rehab the property and get it rented. 

This is not what you want to hear but you cannot fight city hall.

@Patrick Philip try combining your heloc with a hard money loan so you can work in the move up market instead of fighting against everyone with $100k in their bank account in the sub $100k market.

@Branden Irvine Hi Branden, I look forward to meeting you tomorrow!

Fight through it will get better.

I dare them to fight you on this... if they had a true "Realtor" on their staff that drafted this then you have recourse against their license too. 

The quote: $7.02 and I feel like an idiot. 14 years of fighting with procurement departments because I had assumed it was a significant cost.

The big developers are trying to get a foot into San Marcos but the old guard taxpayers are fighting back.

I'm still fighting to get my deposite back but I'd rather loose $500 instead of $5000 ..

If you're looking mostly for properties to Airbnb, Miami Beach is absolutely not allowed and Miami is in a big fight right now.