When a tenant rents a residential apartment, they usually provide a security deposit. As a landlord, your initial goal for this deposit may simply be to protect yourself if the tenant fails to pay their rent. You already have a certain amount of money on file that you can keep if they do not meet the obligations laid out in the lease.
But what if the tenant does make all of their rent payments, but repairs are necessary after they move out when their lease expires? In that case, could you keep their security deposit to help cover the cost of these repairs?
Do they go beyond normal wear and tear?
As a general rule, landlords cannot keep a security deposit for things that are considered normal wear and tear. The damage has to go beyond that level in order to qualify.
For instance, perhaps there are scratches on the baseboard from people moving furniture around. This is normal and expected in any residential space, so the deposit does not apply. But if the tenant recklessly tore the baseboards off the wall entirely and they need to be replaced, that goes beyond normal wear and tear.
Another example could be a hole in the wall. If the tenant smashed a large hole through the drywall while moving a couch, you can likely keep the security deposit to pay for the repairs. But if there are just small holes in the wall where someone put in a nail to hang up a picture, that would be considered normal wear and tear.
Naturally, landlords and tenants sometimes get into disputes regarding what is an expected level of wear and tear and when the security deposit can be retained. In these cases, it is important to know exactly what legal steps to take.