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We are new to being a landlord. It is my understanding that security deposits need to be returned unless you give the tenant an itemized checklist of what the money will be used for (within so many days of them vacating). The deposit must be kept in a seperate savings acct. In SC it is not required that money accrued in interest be given to the tenants (in some states it is).
Pet deposits are sometimes refundable and sometimes not. We considered renting a home when we moved but the agency had a 200 non-refundable per pet deposit. We would have lost out on $1,000 upfront. We decided to buy, instead of rent.
Oh you'd be surprised what they can itemize....and what can you do......They can claim they have to paint the whole apartment -- which they would do anyways. And you can negotiate and debate with a landlord of a small building but a large complex -- forget it -- they don't play. You sign on their rules or you don't get the place.
I have to agree with the landlords posting in this thread.
My father-in-law has a property that he rents out and EVERYTIME he has to evict a tenant the place is TRASHED. He is just too nice in most cases (but that is for another discussion at another time) with late rent etc.
I don't know how some people can stand to live like that ... they seem nice enough and well dressed and educated but then when they leave we have to basically gut the interior completely and a whole remodel.
I usually do not find myself on this side of this sort of discussion, but in my experience, the landlord, in more cases than not, will be spending more than the deposit to correct deficiencies left by a vacating tenant.
I WILL SAY THIS THOUGH ...
When you move in, take pictures and or video of the apartment before you take possession .. preferably with the landlord along with you doing the walk-through.
Document any and all issues and problems you see when you move in and you will have more ground to stand on when you leave and a landlord tries to keep your deposit.
I have taken a deposit to hold a property for a tenant in South Carolina. Now he has changed his mind and I have had the property off the market for a week, in which I could have rented the property. Can I legally keep the deposit?
I would say maybe you are entitled to 1/4 of the deposit not a full month's worth since it has only been one week. I think you'd also need to prove you tried to advertise it for rent during that time. If you didn't bother to try to rent it, the former prospective tenant has a claim to it. This just seems to me the way any fair minded Judge would decide.
The landlord kept our deposit when we rented in Summerville. We could not believe it because we had done NO damage and we had been model tenants. They kept our deposit for "damage that was caused in the shower." There was NO WAY we could have done the damage unless we had dropped a huge boulder on the shower floor!!!! (A crack had appeared in the marble in the shower floor.....determined to be caused by faulty installation of the marble.) This place is financial problems, so I'm sure they were finding excuses to be keeping EVERYONE'S deposit.......
The laws here in SC are written to allow the landlord to keep the deposits no matter what. I learned this the hard way after taking my former landlord to court. I lost the case, but gained a feeling of retribution when I informed the buyer of the property about the sub-floor damage and water/mold damage to the interior walls. The landlord knew about all of this. Buyer is now taking them to court
I would suggest that each tenant take a recording of the property when you move in and make sure the landlord has a copy of it.
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