What can a landlord deduct from a security deposit?
Three things, broadly: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and charges your lease specifically allows that state law doesn't prohibit. Everything else — routine cleaning, repainting an aging wall, fixing what was already broken when you moved in — is not deductible, and a landlord who takes it anyway owes it back.
The line that decides most disputes
Damage is something you broke. Wear and tear is what happens when a person lives somewhere. Landlords lose deposit cases constantly because they charge for the second and call it the first.
Normal wear and tear vs. damage
No statute lists every example, but courts across the country draw the line in recognisably similar places:
| Wear and tear — not chargeable | Damage — chargeable |
|---|---|
| Carpet worn thin in walkways | Carpet burned, torn, or pet-stained through |
| Paint faded or lightly scuffed | Crayon, unapproved paint colour, large gouges |
| Small nail holes from hanging art | Large holes, anchors pulled through drywall |
| Loose hinges, sticking doors | Doors off frames, broken or missing |
| Grout and caulk discoloured with age | Cracked tile, broken fixtures |
| Appliance wearing out with age | Appliance broken by misuse |
| Curtains faded by sunlight | Curtains torn or missing |
The deduction landlords get wrong most often
Cleaning. Many leases contain a flat “professional cleaning fee,” and many landlords apply it regardless of the state the unit was left in. Most states only allow a cleaning charge to return the unit to the condition it was in when you moved in — so if you left it as clean as you found it, there is usually nothing to charge for. Several states go further and specifically restrict routine carpet-cleaning deductions.
The second most common error is depreciation. If a carpet has a ten-year useful life and it was eight years old when you moved out, you cannot be charged for a brand-new carpet — at most for the remaining value. Landlords routinely bill the full replacement cost, and routinely lose on it.
The deadline usually matters more than the deductions
Here is the part most tenants don't know. Nearly every state requires the landlord to send a written, itemized list of deductions within a set number of days. In many states, missing that deadline forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit — even deductions that were perfectly legitimate.
That means the strongest argument often isn't whether a charge was fair. It's that the landlord was late. We track that deadline for all 48 states we serve, verified against each legislature's published text.
“Wear and tear is excluded” is wrong in seven states
Nearly every website answering this question gives one answer: your landlord can't charge you for ordinary wear and tear. That is true in most states, and the statute says so in words you can quote. In seven states it is not what the law says at all — and the argument that actually works there is a different one.
Five states never mention wear and tear at all
These statutes descend from the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. They let the deposit cover damages caused by the tenant's noncompliance with a specific list of tenant duties — and never use the phrase “wear and tear.” The protection is still there, but the argument is that ordinary living isn't a breach of any duty on that list. Quoting an exclusion here cites something that doesn't exist.
Alabama · Indiana · Kansas · Ohio · South Carolina
In New Jersey, your lease is the standard
New Jersey has no wear-and-tear language either. It permits charges expended in accordance with the terms of the contract, lease or agreement — so the question isn't whether a charge was fair, it's whether anything in your lease authorises it.
New Jersey
Hawaii uses a closed list
Hawaii enumerates exactly what a deposit may be used for and then permits it for those items “and no others.” A charge that isn't on the list is unauthorised outright — arguably the strongest structure of the five, because there is nothing to weigh.
Hawaii
South Dakota frames it as restoration
The landlord may withhold only what is reasonably necessary to restore the property to its condition at the start of the tenancy, “ordinary wear and tear excepted” — the exception is a carve-out from the restoration duty rather than a standalone ban.
South Dakota
Everywhere else, the statute says it outright
These states exclude ordinary, normal or reasonable wear and tear in words you can quote back. Texas and Idaho are flat prohibitions with no qualifier; California goes furthest and forecloses even the cumulative effects of wear across more than one tenancy.
Alaska · Arizona · California · Colorado · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Idaho · Illinois · Iowa · Louisiana · Maine · Michigan · Minnesota · Missouri · Montana · New York · Oregon · Texas · Utah · Washington · Wisconsin
We read the deduction provisions in 30 states directly. Where we could not confirm one on a primary source, that state simply has no entry here rather than a guess — New Mexico is the clearest example.
What to do about a deduction you think is wrong
- Get the itemization in writing. If your landlord hasn't sent one, that alone may be your whole case.
- Find your move-in evidence. Photos, the move-in condition report, any email where you reported a problem when you arrived.
- Check the arithmetic. Full replacement cost for a worn item, or a charge with no receipt attached, is worth challenging on its own.
- Put your dispute in writing and send it certified. A written record is what turns your version of events into evidence if this reaches a courtroom.
Think a deduction was unfair?
We'll write a demand letter citing your state's statute, the deadline your landlord had, and the penalty for withholding wrongly. Free to generate and download.
Write my demand letterCommon questions
- What can a landlord legally deduct from a security deposit?
- Generally three things: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, and any charge your lease specifically allows that state law doesn't prohibit. Some states also permit cleaning charges, but usually only to return the unit to the condition it was in when you moved in — not to make it cleaner than that.
- Is normal wear and tear deductible?
- No. This is the most important rule in security deposit law and it applies in essentially every state. Wear and tear is the ordinary deterioration that happens when someone lives somewhere normally — faded paint, worn carpet in walkways, small nail holes, loose door handles. A landlord cannot charge you to undo the effects of ordinary living.
- Can a landlord charge me for cleaning?
- It depends on your state and on how dirty the unit was. Most states allow a cleaning charge only where the unit was left less clean than when you moved in. A landlord generally cannot charge a flat 'cleaning fee' to professionally clean a unit you already left clean, and several states prohibit routine carpet cleaning charges entirely.
- Can a landlord charge me for repainting?
- Usually not, if the paint simply aged. Interior paint has a useful life — often estimated at three to five years — and fading or minor scuffing is wear and tear. Repainting may be chargeable if you painted without permission or caused damage well beyond normal use.
- Can a landlord deduct for something that was already broken?
- No. You are not responsible for pre-existing damage. This is why move-in photos and a signed move-in condition report matter so much — they are the evidence that a problem predated you.
- Does my landlord have to itemize the deductions?
- In most states, yes — and in writing, within a statutory deadline. Missing that deadline is often a bigger deal than the deductions themselves: in many states a landlord who fails to itemize on time forfeits the right to keep any part of the deposit at all, regardless of how legitimate the damage was.
Your state's specifics
Deadlines, itemization duties and penalties vary. Every page below cites that state's statute and shows when we last verified it against the legislature's published text.
General information, not legal advice. We are not a law firm. State law varies, and the wear-and-tear line is ultimately decided case by case.