Small claims court over a $200 carpet cleaning deposit taught me a lesson

I rented a house in Denver for 2 years and the landlord kept my whole $200 deposit saying the carpet had 'pet stains' even though I never had pets. I took him to small claims court and the judge asked for photos of this damage he claimed existed, he had none, so I got my money back plus filing fees. Has anyone else had a landlord try to keep a deposit without any proof?

2 comments

2 Comments

joelsanchez24d agoMost Upvoted

Gotta say I see this a bit different. Landlords deal with so many tenants who trash places and skip out, they get jaded and start treating everyone like a liar. Not saying it's right he kept your deposit with no proof, that's obviously dumb on his part. But you had the place for 2 years, that's a long time for normal wear and tear even without pets. If you never asked for a walkthrough or took photos when you moved out, I can see why he might have assumed there was damage. It's easy to point fingers at landlords but most of them get burned so many times they stop trusting anyone. Good on you for going to court though, that took guts.

the_val24d ago

Most of them get burned so many times" - yeah that's exactly why tenants need receipts for everything too.