SECURITY DEPOSIT LAW · CA · NY · TX

Your landlord
blinked.

Paste the deductions. We'll show you the dollar amount they owe you, and the email that gets it wired back. Four minutes.

· CA · NY · TX· FREE TO DRAFT· $49 TO SEND· 4 MIN
Demand email · draft
RF-0427-C9A2
Day 34 of 21
Amount owed
$2,400
Leverage found
  • — No itemized statement within 21 days
  • — "Cleaning fee" exceeds normal wear & tear
  • — Receipts not provided for repairs >$125
Statutory penalty:
DRAFT · READY TO SEND
HOW IT WORKS · 4 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME

Three steps. One email they can't ignore.

01

Upload the evidence

Lease, move-in and move-out photos, and the deduction statement. Phone photos are fine.

02

We find the leverage

Every line item gets a statute next to it. If they have a receipt, we already know about it. If they don't, the email makes that their problem.

03

Send the email

Chapter and verse, with the deadline count and the statutory penalty beside each charge. Most landlords fold the moment they read it. The ones who don't find out what 2× in CA, 2× willful in NY, or 3× plus $100 plus fees in TX actually costs them.

THE LAW · CA · NY · TX

Short window. Every state.

California gives landlords 21 days. New York, 14. Texas, 30. Your landlord has a statutory deadline to return the deposit or send an itemized statement. Miss the window, lose the right to withhold. No exceptions.

Statutory return window
21
CA · Civ. § 1950.5(g)
2× bad-faith penalty
14
NY · GOL § 7-108(1-a)(e)
2× willful violation
30
TX · Prop. § 92.103
$100 + 3× + fees
Miss the statutory window. Forfeit the right to withhold.
THE COUNTER-OFFER · WORKED EXAMPLE

They billed the bathroom. You owe them the tile.

Most landlord deductions don't survive the math. We don't tell you to ignore the charge. We show you what an honest number looks like, and let the delta between their number and ours do the pushing.

Landlord claim
Full bathroom re-tile
$1,840
  • One cracked tile at the threshold
  • No receipt. Contractor quote only
  • Full-replacement number
apply the law
Defensible amount
One-tile repair
$200
  • Tile replacement: $4 to $8
  • Brooklyn tile-work labor: $150 to $250
  • Actual cost of the actual damage
Your leverage
$1,640
The delta between their number and a number they can defend. That's the amount the email asks for, in writing, with the deadline.
Mechanism
Wear and tear isn't damage

Aging finishes, routine scuffs, ordinary tile shift from settlement. Every state excludes normal wear from deposit deductions. Bright-line rule.

Mechanism
The landlord has to prove it

Statutes in all three states put the burden of justifying the cost on the landlord. A quote for unperformed work is not a cost they incurred, and no one has to pay it.

Mechanism
Repair, not replace

Damage to one item is not grounds to bill for the whole thing. Restoration is the legal measure, not improvement. One cracked tile is a tile job, not a bathroom.

Example based on a real NYC closure. Identifying details redacted. Dollar figures are the actual in-market costs we used to build the counter-offer.

RECEIPTS · PUBLIC WINS

Money, back in the right pocket.

$27,648
recovered. 3 closures.
$9,948
Mike
Improper damage & cleaning charges
$9,000
Mallory
Illegitimate damage & replacement charges
$8,700
Ian
Illegal damage & labor charges

Identifying details redacted. Outcomes reflect demand-email resolutions unless otherwise noted.

PRICING · NO SUBSCRIPTION

One-time. One price.

Full leverage · Demand email
$49
ONE-TIME
  • — Full line-item leverage analysis
  • — Demand email with statute citations
  • — Counter-offer figures per disputed charge
  • — Ready to send from your account
Full leverage + escalation
$89
ONE-TIME
  • — Everything in the $49 tier
  • — Unlimited follow-up letters
  • — Small claims filing guide
  • — Response classification + next-move playbook

No subscription · No contingency fee · No lawyer

DAY 34 · DEADLINE PASSED 13 DAYS AGO

They're counting on you giving up.

Don't. Upload your lease. Get an email in 4 minutes. Free to draft.

Get my money back →