Tara signed a one-year residential lease and paid a $1,500 security deposit. After four months, Tara accepted a new job in another state and moved out of the apartment, leaving it broom-clean and providing her forwarding address. The landlord immediately re-rented the unit at the same rent but kept Tara's entire $1,500 security deposit and gave her no written accounting of deductions. Tara sues to recover the deposit. Under the predominant approach of U.S. landlord-tenant law, which of the following best states the landlord's liability, if any?
The landlord may keep the entire security deposit because Tara breached the lease by moving out early.
Because the landlord promptly re-rented the apartment, he must automatically return the entire security deposit to Tara, regardless of any damage.
The landlord may keep the entire deposit without a written accounting, but only if the lease expressly states that the deposit is forfeited upon early termination.
The landlord may retain only the portion necessary to cover unpaid rent and proven damages beyond normal wear and tear, and the failure to provide an itemized written accounting entitles Tara to recover the full deposit and any statutory penalties.
Most state statutes require a landlord to return the security deposit, minus lawful deductions (unpaid rent, damages beyond ordinary wear and tear, or cleaning to restore original condition), and to send the tenant an itemized written accounting within a set period (typically 14-45 days). Failure to provide that accounting usually forfeits the landlord's right to keep any portion of the deposit and can expose the landlord to statutory penalties-often up to two or three times the amount wrongfully withheld. Hence, the landlord may keep only amounts it can prove are owed and accounted for; keeping the entire deposit without an accounting makes the landlord liable for the full $1,500 and any statutory damages.
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