Security deposit not returned by your landlord in India

What you are owed

Your security deposit is your money. The landlord can keep back only what is really due: unpaid rent, or the cost of real damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. Paint that has gone a little dull, or normal use over the years, is not damage you pay for. Anything more than what is genuinely owed has to come back to you. In most states there is no legal basis for holding it for weeks as a formality.

What to do, in order

1. Ask once, in writing. Send a message or an email. Put in the amount, the date you moved out, and the bank details to send the money to. Give a reasonable date to return it by — 15 days is fair. Putting it in writing matters. It starts a record, and it is often all you need.
2. Keep your proof together. The rent agreement, the deposit receipt or the bank transfer, your move-out date, and photos of the clean flat if you have them.
3. If that is ignored, send a formal demand notice. This is a firm letter that sets out what you are owed and gives a final deadline before you go to court. Landlords who ignored casual messages often pay as soon as a proper notice arrives.
4. Then small claims or the civil court. Knowing this route exists is usually enough to change the conversation.

When a formal notice is worth it

If polite messages have not worked, a demand notice usually works. But it has to be written properly to carry weight. Miss Lucy Lite can write that notice for you as a finished document, with the correct wording and the deadline set correctly.

Not sure whether the deductions are fair or you are simply being delayed? Tell Miss Lucy Lite what happened and she will explain where you stand.