What counts as wear and tear vs repairs when deducting from security deposit?

[TylerH]

My landlord is trying to charge me for what he calls "normal wear and tear" on the carpet, but the stains are from a leak under the sink he refused to fix for months. I paid my security deposit in full, but now he's withholding most of it for this repair. I’m not sure where the line is legally between tenant damage and a landlord’s responsibility for maintenance issues.

[Kyle.B]

That happened to me once. Landlord tried to charge me for carpet stains after months of ignoring a leak under the sink. I took photos, told him in writing that the leak caused the damage and that it wasn’t normal wear and tear. He eventually gave back part of the deposit after I showed the damage was from water, not day-to-day use. I kept every receipt and made a simple timeline of events.

[Scott47]

From what I can tell, normal wear and tear is stuff like fading or tiny frays, while water damage from a leak usually isn’t the tenant’s fault. If the leak caused the stains, the landlord should fix the plumbing and the carpet cost should reflect actual damage, not routine use. I’d want an itemized deduction with photos and proof the leak existed and was reported.

[TimothyW]

I tried to reason it out with mine, but the messaging loop was slow and the deduction stayed. It started to feel like the issue was more about the landlord protecting their bottom line than about fairness. I ended up looking for local tenants’ rights info and kept the correspondence, but the stalemate lingered.

[JosephHH]

Which state are you in?