Landlord Pretends Security Deposit Is Not Refundable Despite No Damage

Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor

Aug 19, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

It's no secret that landlords can be shady. Whether it's doing the bare minimum to fix a leak or implementing unnecessary rules for you to follow that aren't real. In this case, the latter situation happened. This thread was posted on Reddit's r/LandlordLove subreddit by u/Envystar09, who shared their story of being cheated by their landlord.

After a final inspection, u/Envystar09's landlord sent an email confirming that no damage had been done to the apartment and that everything was in strong condition. All seemed to end on great terms. That is, until the landlord claimed that the tenant "did not have a refundable security deposit" before wishing them "good luck on [their] next journey."

Well, no part of this seems to be legit. According to Merriam-Webster - and yes, we're going there - a security deposit is "an amount of money that a renter pays when beginning to rent a property…that can be used to pay for any damage that the renter causes to the property." Unless there was an explicit statement when the tenant signed the lease explaining that the deposit was non-refundable, this very much goes against the purpose of a security deposit.

In short, it's another landlord scamming situation. We've seen other recent stories like these. Such as this one, when a predatory landlord screwed themselves over."

Keep scrolling for the original post and some of the best reactions!

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