Security Deposit
Being new to landlording, I am curisous if the experienced people out there have a rule of thumb, or a formula for determining security deposit, and determining how much of it to return when the tenant leaves. Is replacing carpet & painting normal wear & tear, or does that come out of the tenants cleaning fee/secutiry deposit. Thanks for any help.
In my area you can only charge 1 months rent. As far as what you keep when they move depends on how long they where there.
ex. Spots on carpet cleaning charge, wore carpet normely where and tear.
ex. Holes in walls fix-it charge faded paint where and tear.
I will almost never keep the deposit unless the property has been clearly abused. Even though I am a landlord myself, there are a great deal(dare I say most)of landlords who totally abuse the the right to use deposits for damages. I personally, (and I'm sure almost everyone else who has been a tenant at one time) have had this happen to me. I remember leaving apartments in better shape than when I rented them and the landlord always seemed to come up with some excuse for keeping the deposit. As you can tell, this is one of my pet peeves because the behavior of many landlords causes bad feelings towards all of us.
Check your local landlord-tenant laws. They have very specific rules on this question and will help you answer how much deposit you can request, and the circumstances under which the deposit may be forfeited.
Generally, security deposits can be used to mitigate rent losses when the tenant breaks the lease.
Generally, you can deduct repairs for damage caused by tenant abuse. You cannot deduct for normal wear and tear. Generally, you can only deduct actual costs. If you make the repair, you may only charge for the cost of materials -- your time and labor are contributed free of charge.