What a Landlord Can Deduct From a Security Deposit
Unpaid rent, cleaning back to move-in condition, damage beyond wear — and the proof they owe you, including six states where a late statement forfeits it all.
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A landlord can deduct unpaid rent, cleaning to bring the unit back to the state you found it in, repair of damage beyond ordinary wear, and sometimes replacement of furnishings the lease covers. That list is close to universal. What varies, and what actually decides most disputes, is what they have to show you before any of it counts.
Almost every guide on this is written for landlords. The useful question from your side is not “may they?” but “can they prove it, and did they follow the procedure?” A deduction can be entirely fair and still unenforceable.
The four they can take
- Unpaid rent, and usually unpaid utilities the lease made yours.
- Cleaning, but only back to the condition at move-in. Not to a standard the unit never had, and not as a flat fee for existing simply because you left.
- Repair of damage beyond ordinary wear — a burn, a broken window, a pet-stained carpet. Not faded paint, worn traffic lanes or small nail holes.
- Replacing furnishings or fittings, where the lease listed them and the loss is not ordinary wear.
Anything outside those four does not belong on the statement. Routine repainting between tenants is the most common thing that appears there and should not: it is maintenance a landlord does anyway.
What they have to show you
This is where the state you rent in starts to matter, and where most statements fail.
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| An itemized statement | Each charge on its own line with its own reason. A single figure called “cleaning and repairs” is not an itemization, and in most states it is not compliance either. |
| Receipts or invoices | Required outright in some states. California needs them for any single deduction over $125; Illinois requires an itemized list with receipts attached. |
| Their own labour, priced | Where the landlord did the work themselves, states that require receipts generally require a description of the work, the hours and the hourly rate instead. |
| A deadline | Between 14 and 60 days depending on the state, and in six it runs from something other than your move-out date. |
A charge with no supporting document, in a state that requires one, is the easiest thing on the statement to challenge. Start there rather than arguing about whether the carpet was worn.
A legitimate deduction can still be unenforceable
This is the part worth knowing before you concede anything. In six jurisdictions — Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New York, South Dakota and Wisconsin — missing the deadline forfeits the landlord’s right to keep any of the deposit, for damage you genuinely caused as much as for anything else.
Maryland is explicit about the paperwork rather than just the money: no itemized list inside 45 days and the right to withhold is gone. Colorado is the same on a written statement. So the first question to ask about a deduction is not whether it is fair. It is what date it arrived, and whether it arrived at all. The deadline for all 50 states and DC gives yours, with the trigger it counts from.
How to challenge one
- Check the date first. If the statement was late, say so before you argue about any individual line.
- Separate the documented from the asserted. Charges without a receipt, in a state that requires one, are a different argument from charges you simply disagree with.
- Put your move-in evidence against it. Photographs, the move-in inspection form, anything dated from before you lived there.
- Write once, naming the statute. Then, if it goes nowhere, send a demand letter and treat small claims as the next step rather than a threat.
This page explains general rules and is not legal advice. What a landlord may deduct, and what they must document, is set by your state.
Check what your lease actually allows
Upload it and get the deposit clause, the cleaning and move-out conditions and anything the landlord listed as chargeable — quoted from your own document, so you can hold the statement against it.
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