Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.
The landlord charges you for ordinary wear and tear
high likelihoodThe landlord bills you for repainting, carpet cleaning, or "making good" the unit, treating ordinary deterioration as damage.
What answers it
the District of Columbia does not allow a deposit to be applied to normal wear and tear. D.C. Code § 42-3502.17(c)(1): "No housing provider shall withhold a security deposit for the replacement value of apartment items that are damaged due to ordinary wear and tear." Subsection (c)(3) defines ordinary wear and tear to include age-related breakage or malfunction, excluding damage from the tenant's negligence, carelessness, accident or abuse. Subsection (c)(2) provides that a lease repair covenant does not oblige the tenant to make substantial repairs, replace obsolete materials, or fix defects not of the tenant's making. Ask the landlord to identify, item by item, what exceeds that standard, and to produce the move-in condition record that shows the item was not already worn when you took possession.
D.C. Code § 42-3502.17 — § 42-3502.17
"The carpet/paint had to be replaced"
high likelihoodThe landlord charges the full cost of a new carpet, new paint or a new appliance against your deposit.
What answers it
A tenant is not liable for the full replacement cost of an item that was already part-way through its useful life. The recoverable figure is the depreciated value of the remaining life, not a new-for-old replacement. Ask for the installation date and the invoice; carpet is conventionally depreciated over five to ten years and interior paint over two to four. A landlord who cannot date the item cannot prove the loss, and in a deposit case the landlord carries the burden.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
"We never received a forwarding address"
high likelihoodThe landlord says it could not return the deposit because it did not know where to send it.
What answers it
Produce the written record — the email, the text, the certified-mail receipt, the notice-to-vacate that carried the address, or the change-of-address confirmation from the postal service. A landlord who received the address and did nothing cannot rely on this. If the address genuinely was never given, give it now in writing: in most states that starts the clock rather than ending the claim.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
"We sent you the itemisation"
high likelihoodThe landlord asserts it posted the itemised statement inside the statutory window and that you simply did not receive it.
What answers it
Ask for proof of despatch, not proof of intention: the certificate of mailing, the certified-mail receipt, the tracking number, or the timestamped email. Most deposit statutes require the statement to be sent within the period, and the landlord bears the burden of showing it did so. An unevidenced assertion that a letter was posted is not evidence that it was.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
"We had to have the unit professionally cleaned"
high likelihoodA flat "cleaning fee" is deducted whether or not the unit was left dirty.
What answers it
A standing cleaning charge applied to every tenant is not a loss caused by you and is not a permitted deduction. The landlord must show the unit was left less clean than it was at move-in and must produce the invoice for the work actually done. Compare the move-in and move-out condition records; where the landlord did not make a move-in record, it has little with which to prove the difference.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
You were given no notice of the move-out inspection
high likelihoodThe landlord relies on an inspection you were not invited to.
What answers it
14 DCMR § 310.4 requires written notice of the time and date of the inspection at least ten days beforehand, and § 310.1 confines the inspection to within three days, excluding weekends and holidays, before or after the end of the tenancy. An inspection outside that window, or with no notice, is not the inspection the regulation contemplates.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
"You broke the lease, so we keep the deposit"
medium likelihoodThe landlord treats an early departure as forfeiting the deposit outright.
What answers it
A deposit is security for actual loss, not a penalty. Breaking a lease may make you liable for rent until the unit is re-let, but the landlord must mitigate, must itemise what it actually lost, and must still account for the deposit within the statutory period. A blanket forfeiture clause does not survive: deposit statutes are generally non-waivable, so a lease term purporting to let the landlord keep the money regardless is unenforceable.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5
No notice of where the deposit was held
medium likelihoodThe landlord will not say which account holds your money.
What answers it
14 DCMR § 308.3 requires deposits to be held in an interest-bearing escrow account in an insured District financial institution held solely for that purpose, and § 308.7 requires the owner to post annually in the lobby or rental office where they are held and what the prevailing rate was for each six-month period. A landlord that cannot answer has breached the regulation independently of the accounting.
14 DCMR § 309 — § 309.1, § 309.5