Small claims court

Example

A Texas landlord keeps a tenant’s entire $1,500 deposit and sends no itemized list. The tenant files in justice court, where the limit is $20,000, and asks for the $1,500 plus the state’s penalty for keeping a deposit in bad faith: $100 plus three times the amount wrongly withheld, and attorney’s fees. The filing fee is modest, and the hearing is usually within weeks. The tenant brings the lease, the move-in and move-out photos, and a copy of the letter giving the forwarding address.

In a lease it looks like…

Any dispute over the security deposit or amounts owed at the end of the tenancy may be brought in the small claims court for the county where the premises are located, if within that court’s limit.

By state

Limits run from $2,500 in Kentucky to $25,000 in Delaware and Tennessee, and some states set a lower limit for businesses: California allows individuals $12,500 but most other claimants only $6,250.