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andreyanobles · Sep 28, 2007, 10:41 AM

Hello,

I have a tenant that is moving out of my rental home and I charged her a pet deposit of $500.00 The lease states, "Tenant shall pay to Landlord a pet deposit of $500.00, of which shall be non-refundable and shall be used upon the termination or expiration of this Agreement for the purpose of cleaning the carpets of the building."

If my tenant cleaned the home and had the carpets cleaned, does my Agreement/Lease still holds that the pet deposit is non-refundable, or by law, am I required to give her back the pet deposit?

Thanks,

Andreya

RickJ · Sep 28, 2007, 10:53 AM

You have technically conflicting info in the agreement. In the future, remove saying what it will be used for.

If it were me I would refund her what you did not have to use for your stated purpose, however I do believe that you have a legal right to not refund it since you did state that it is non-refundable.

ScottGem · Sep 28, 2007, 11:11 AM

The question in my mind is two fold. One did the tenant state they would pay for the cleaning before moving out and do you know for a fact that they did have it done.

If they said they would do it and you said go ahead, then I would think that, at least ethically, you should return the deposit. But, if they are saying that they had it done AFTERWARDS, then you are under no such obligation.

I would also agree with Rick to remove such specific language from the lease.

andreyanobles · Sep 28, 2007, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by ScottGem

The question in my mind is two fold. One did the tenant state they would pay for the cleaning before moving out and do you know for a fact that they did have it done.

If they said they would do it and you said go ahead, then I would think that, at least ethically, you should return the deposit. But, if they are saying that they had it done AFTERWARDS, then you are under no such obligation.

I would also agree with Rick to remove such specific language from the lease.

I will remove this language from future agreements. The tenant did state that she would be cleaning the home and having the carpets cleaned. I would think this is a normal process to do, especially when wanting to receive their initial security deposit refund. I now live in Georgia and my rental property is in California. I am sending a representative, who lives in California, to do the final inspection, so I guess I will have to see if the person I'm sending to do the inspection reports any damages, and/or odors and go from there.