Moving into a new apartment in Texas? What you should know about security deposits
Picture this: You’re trying to move into a new Fort Worth apartment and your landlord asked for a $3,000 security deposit.
Then, a year later, it’s been 30 days since you moved out and you still haven’t received your security deposit.
What can you do?
Here’s what you should know, according to the Texas State Law Library.
What’s a security deposit?
A security deposit is usually one or two months of rent that renters pay to landlords when they move into a unit in case of damages or breaking the lease, according to Investopedia. The landlord holds onto it and must return it when the tenant leaves.
Many states limit how much a landlord can charge for a security deposit to one or two months of rent. Texas does not.
In the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, the median rent for a studio to a two-bedroom unit was $1,530, down 6.2% year-over-year, according to Realtor.com’s latest report, meaning tenants could have to fork up more than $3,000 before moving into a rental.
Security deposits are different from application deposits or fees. Landlords can ask for application deposits, which are refundable if the applicant is rejected. (Texas Tenant Advisor provides a letter template applicants can use if they are rejected). The application fee, which offsets the screening cost, is nonrefundable.
Landlords can also offer the option of paying a monthly fee with their rent instead of a security deposit. Those “security deposit replacements” allow tenants to move in without paying large amounts upfront, but tenants don’t get that money back like they do with traditional deposits.
How long do landlords have to return a deposit?
Texas landlords have 30 days after the tenant moves out to refund the security deposit. However, landlords aren’t obligated to do so, or provide a written description of damages and charges, until the tenant provides their forwarding address.
Even if the tenant doesn’t provide a forwarding address, that doesn’t mean they gave up their right to a refund.
What can landlords deduct from the deposit?
Landlords can’t deduct for normal wear and tear in the unit, meaning they can’t deduct for deterioration occurring during intended use of the unit. That doesn’t include deterioration resulting from negligence, carelessness, accident or abuse of the unit by the tenant.
What can you do if they don’t return your security deposit?
If a landlord hasn’t returned the security deposit or an itemized list of deductions in 30 days of the tenant moving out, tenants should first send a refund demand letter, according to Austin Tenants Council.
The demand letter should include the following, according to Texas Tenant Advisor:
Date
Landlord name, city, state, zip
Address where you pay rent
Request for refund of the deposit and a written description and itemized list of any damages
Forwarding address
If that doesn’t work, they could consider mediation.
The last step: suing. If a tenant believes their landlord is withholding their deposit in bad faith, they can sue the landlord for up to three times the amount of the deposit that’s withheld, plus other fees. If it’s less than $20,000, tenants can file a small claims case in justice court.
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