OK, just this past weekend I moved into a new rental property. The property manager of the old home is telling me she isn't giving me my deposit due to the fact she has to repaint . I was under the impression that after a year of someone living in a property it is required to paint anyway, without any penalty to the renter. Am I wrong ? I lived in the property 14 months and always paid on time and cleand and everything, also the paint on the walls wasn't even glossed, so even when I tried to clean the walls the paint would just wipe off...

They need to give you a written accounting of the cost of cleaning up after you.

However, they will likely have their painting contractor testify that the paint was washed off and that's why a complete repaint was needed.

Well the problem is we did clean, but from wear and tear the paint was an issue, and personally it isn't bad, just a light caot and paint, and a gloss would fix this problem for further people, can they justly do this, I have pictures also...

:confused:so is there anything I can do legally, if they take my deposit do I have grounds to take this to small claims court, I work with legal docs all day , I know there is some statute that states a home owner is responsible for painting after a certain amount of time!

You can try to take them to small claims court if they do this.

You should have photos hopefully showing how the apartment looked when you moved out

There are links to state laws at the top of this forum. Most states have laws that specify that the deposit or an accounting of how it was used has to be returned within a specified period. Often there are penatlies that negate using the deposit if not returned on time.

So the first thing is to check on that time frame, then hope they don't provide it on time.