Generally speaking for the US - do a video walk-through on move-in day, and the same when you move out. Do your best to document every single bit of damage that you see when you move in, no matter how small. Do your best to make sure that both are dated in a way that would be more difficult to fake. Be prepared to take your landlord to small-claims court (in most cases it’s going to be small claims); amounts over $5000 are likely to be regular court system. Check your contract carefully to see if there are provisions for cleaning on move-out, whether it’s supposed to be a deep-clean, or broom-clean. Keep any receipts from cleaning that you pay for.

Most of the time, as long as you didn’t do any damage past normal wear and tear, and you did a good job cleaning, you’re going to get your deposit back. Most of the time. Other times, you’re going to have to sue.

The only times I have had issues was when I was breaking leases, or serious damage was caused to the apartment (e.g., I had a cat that peed outside the litter box when he was mad, and they apartment needed new subflooring in a few spots).

Once again wikihow is incorrect.

The best way is a baseball bat

Another reason why, if any type of landlord exists, they should be an actual person who lives within what I affectionately call face-punching distance.

You can’t punch an anonymous conglomerate of soulless suits.

That’s a temporarily fix.

The best medicine so far is to bring out the guillotine every few hundred years & rebalance the two classes.

My security deposit was returned to me with interest added.

I was told not to paint anything because they do that whenever someone leaves as standard practice.

Sometimes apartments aren’t bad.

Pro tip: When our move-out day approached, we asked our landlord cleaners they used. We hired them to clean up, since they would clean to the LL’s specs. They could also provide tips on other things tennants often get dinged on too, so we could address.

Not everyone has cash to hire cleaners, but their rate was about what I usually lose on deposits.

This is literally how it works in other parts of the world - do you guys just have to trust that your landlord isn’t going to decide that they’d rather just keep your money at the end of the lease?

In NZ, the landlord is required to lodge the bond with a government agency, and in cases where there is a dispute a special court will adjudicate and issue binding orders as to how the money is to be divided.

That is how it works - https://www.gov.uk/deposit-protection-schemes-and-landlords

Here in Germany you deposit it in a bank and not one party alone can access it. It’s called “social law”, not “socialism”. Many things broken here, that one thing isn’t.

The management agency that leased the house I lived in while I was in college tried to withhold our security deposit because we didn’t provide proof of carpet cleaning.

The house had all hardwood floors.