can a landlord keep your deposit for paint/general wear and tear if you have lived in the apartment for 10 yea

Answer 1

It depends on the state, but as most people have said, it also depends on your rental agreement. Repainting once in 10 years is a great bargain for the landlord.

But if you've been there for 10 years and he's keeping your deposit, I'd wonder what else he's doing that might not be legal. Check with the housing authority or AG's office .. or maybe a legal aide can help. Many states require that a security deposit be put into escrow .That is, the monies are paid into an interest bearing account in YOUR NAME. You must be provided with this banking information within the first 30 days.

In some states, there are treble damages awarded for misappropriation of security deposits. This would include all interest accrued over 10 years.

You could be looking at a serious refund.

Answer 2

No. If it is just paint and general wear and tear that is part of the cost of doing business. If he hasn't painted or updated the apartment in 10 yr you can take him to small claims court. Normally paint is good for about 2-3 years and carpet 3-5.

Answer 3

I don't know about where you are, but in MI the landlord is required to give you an itemized list of all expenses withheld from your deposit and the balance within 30 days.
Many landlords figure if you don't know the law they will take advantage of you, of course many of them don't know the law either. Typically, normal wear is part of the cost of doing business. In MI it has to be for specific damage-and cleaning is cannot be withheld from a security deposit, it needs to be a separate non-refundable fee.

Answer 4

Normal wear and tear should not be included but it's a very fine line to decipher between normal or something that you did while living there that would not normally have happened. You would think that since you paid them rent for ten freakin years they would at least give you your deposit back to kinda say thanks for livin in my place and paying me rent for 10 years...but then again people are nasty. Think about the karma though. What goes around comes around.

Answer 5

no......how many times has he painted the place in 10 yrs?

Answer 6

it depends on your rental agreement.
if there are no stipulations for the deposit, the landlord can keep it for anything he or she deems necessary.

Answer 7

yes
should they? not if you didn't destroy the walls or carpet
but in the real world, they will and can

Answer 8

sure can..