Imagine leasing your home out to a tenant who in your eyes "ruined" the carpet. What is ruined? At the end of the day the only people who can truly define this word is a Judge and maybe a jury. If the carpet has stains that were not present before the tenant occupied the home then the tenant should pay to have it shampooed. That's my approach anyways. To me ruined is THRASHED beyond repair.
If you keep the security deposit the tenant could sue you for being unreasonable. Plain and simple. It happens and has happened to a homeowner I know. They tenants argument was that the carpet was almost five years old when they moved in and that they were willing to have that same carpet professionally cleaned, but that wasn't good enough for the landlord. The landlord kept all $3,000.00 of the tenants security deposit.
3 months later the tenant successfully sued the Landlord in small claims court and was awarded additional monies for unrightfully witholding "all" of the security deposit.
Use your common sense when attacking a tenants security deposit. Spend the money to talk to a real estate attorney. Being a Landlord doesn't give you special powers. You have obligations per state law JUST like the tenant.
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