I've googled this and haven't found an exact answer to my question. I had a 3 month lease between moving from one home to the next. I have 30 days notice before I moved out and didn't damage anything. The landlord deducted $150 from my security deposit refund without explanation. Are they required to provide an explanation? My lease terminated November 8 so we are coming up on 30 days and I was thinking if they had to give an explanation in that 30 day window I would wait until the window had lapsed to ask for an explanation.

Any advice?

The landlord has 30 days to either refund it and/or provide an explanation.
Look up Texas Property Code, Chapter 92.
I was going to post a link, buy my bookmarks are all outdated.

Goose: Quick Guide - LL must refund security deposit to tenant on or before 30th day after tenant surrenders premises (contingent on tenant providing written statement of forwarding address); LL may deduct for certain damages and charges allowed under lease or for breaching lease (does not include "normal wear and tear"); If LL retains a portion of security deposit, must give tenant remainder of deposit and written description of deductions (exception - undisputed that tenant still owed rent upon surrender of premises); LL potentially liable to tenant for bad faith retention of security deposit if LL does not meet obligations; LL failure to return security deposit or provide written notice of deductions on or before 30th day indicated above is presumed to have acted in "bad faith" (possible 3x amount wrongly withheld and tenant's attorney's fees).

In addition to what has already been said, send any correspondence via certified mail so you can prove they received it.

Thanks. So is it an ok plan to wait until after the 30 day period has passed and then send an email telling them to immediately send the remainder of my deposit. If they refuse then I have the right to pursue treble damages?

To be clear, I don't intend to pursue treble damages and I want to give the landlord a fair opportunity to just give me what they owe

Not a lawyer, but I believe you would need to send it certified mail and not by email.

Seor Chang said:

---

Not a lawyer, but I believe you would need to send it certified mail and not by email.

---

Couldn't I just send my demand letter via certified mail and not worry about that for a simple reminder that they didn't provide any reasons for deducting an amount from my deposit so I expect they will send the rest of it soon. Meaning send a friendly reminder via email and if that doesn't work then go for treble damages via certified mail.

Mailbox Rule; But, best practice is to send any notices/demands, etc. via cmrrr. Would only use email in addition to cmrrr.

Out of curiosity, what would treble damages be on $150? 3x + fees?

BoilerAg10 said:

---

Out of curiosity, what would treble damages be on $150? 3x + fees?

---

I honestly don't care if it's a small number. This landlord also took weeks to fix a broken refrigerator (among other things) which was a huge pain in my ass. If I can be a pain in their ass in return, I'll do that just on principal. If I make $300 for doing so, all the better...

They why bother sending an email? Just go the certified mail route.