Can a landlord subract a cleaning fee from your deposit?

By phillipthekewlkat

I rented a townhome for a year.  When I signed the lease I had XYZ as a landlord.  Halfway through my lease, the townhomes I lived in were sold to my new landlord ABC.  For starters, I wasn’t even aware the townhomes were for sale!  At any rate, the new landlord resumed the same lease, and just had me resign it to update the contract with their name.  My deposit was $500.  When my lease was up, they said they would have to do a walk through of the townhome and then send me the deposit.  They only sent me $400.  They said the townhome was extremely clean but they automatically hire a cleaning crew to come through and that charge is passed on to me – the missing $100.  But, nothing was ever mentioned in the contract!  And is it really worth taking them to small claims court for $100.  But especially in today’s economy, $100 is a lot of money!  I just feel like I’ve been cheated and don’t know what I can do.

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