Landlord not returning your security deposit? Here's what you can do

You've moved out — rent paid, the place left clean, keys handed back — and the deposit just isn't coming back. First a vague promise, then the calls get shorter, and after a few weeks it starts to feel like the money is gone. It usually isn't, and getting it back is more straightforward than it feels right now.

What you're actually owed

Your security deposit is your money. The landlord can keep back only what's genuinely due — unpaid rent, or the cost of real damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. A freshly painted wall gone a little dull, or normal use over the years, is not damage you pay for. Anything beyond what's genuinely owed has to come back to you, and in most states there's no legal basis for holding it for weeks "as a formality".

The order to do things in

1. Ask once, in writing. A calm message or email — the amount, the date you moved out, the bank details to return it to, and a reasonable date to return it by (say, 15 days). Writing it down matters more than you'd think: it starts a record, and it's often all it takes.
2. Keep your proof together. The rent agreement, the deposit receipt or the bank transfer, your move-out date, photos of the clean flat if you have them.
3. If that's ignored, send a formal demand notice. This is a firm letter that sets out what you're owed and gives a final deadline before you go to court. Landlords who ignored casual messages often settle the moment a proper notice lands.
4. Small claims / civil court is the step after that, and knowing that route exists is usually enough to change how the conversation goes.

When it's worth a formal notice

If the polite messages haven't worked, the demand notice is the real turning point — but it needs to be drafted properly to carry weight. Miss Lucy Lite can't draft it (she explains, she doesn't draw up documents), but Miss Lucy Pro can draft that notice for you, with the right wording and the deadline set correctly.

Not sure whether you're being fairly held to account or simply stalled? Tell Miss Lucy Lite what happened the way you'd tell a friend, and she'll walk you through where you stand.