[jessaustin]

Haha this seems like maybe you haven't rented many places. My brother used to talk like this, but on his last move-out he got totally shafted. He and his wife had meticulously scrubbed every surface, then they hired a cleaning company, and they still got none of their deposit back.

The "easy" solution to this, although it does have some drawbacks, is simply not to pay the last month's rent.

The only time I haven't gotten screwed over by a landlord is when we knew each other through our university alumni association.

[rhexs]

Rented plenty of places. Read my comment again. You seem to have ignored critical parts of it. Yes, if your landlord takes your deposit and do nothing except complain on hackernews they obviously aren't going to write you a check out of the goodness of their hearts.

Not paying the last months rent seems like an absolutely terrible idea (depends on local state laws I suppose, but please consult with a local renter advocate association or lawyer before trying this) and the exact sort of advice that will lead you into handing over gobs of cash to your landlord for absolutely no good reason then writing anecdotes about it till the end of time.