s comment - you said your house is in Denton County - then you will need to file in the JP court for that district in Denton County, not Collin county.I have done the process once - it went pretty smoothly, got the tenant out same day as the court proceeding, renovated the ample damage they had done and had a new tenant in a week later.Good luck!

I have now educated them on this topic, but I hope the damage to them on this deal is not too great.

I want to preserve the deposit to cover future or unknown damages.

Nearly all homes in Palo Alto are in a "flood zone" with a risk of flooding, but for most the likelihood of a flood being deep enough to cause damage is very remote (not in 100 year flood zone).Whether anything can be economically done depends upon the type of flooding that may occur.

You might find a lot of damage in there.

If you have no damages at the end of the current lease, you return the deposit.

. - if the rest of the house isn't being damaged significantly by the dog on an ongoing basis (hopefully you have wood/tile floors), I'd consider renewing them at your standard market rate rent escalation.

Sometimes historic properties can allow you to claim tax credits while renovating.If the value is significantly affected, you should talk to your attorney about suing the seller for non-disclosure / fraud and damages, especially if there are written documents from the seller that the home is not historic / governed by special codes and you can prove they knew it had restrictions.

Is the damaged area in a kitchen or bathroom?

A bad tenant can trash a brand new house and cause $10,000+ in damage.