[rograndom]

In my state (VT), there's a section of the law that says something to the effect that if a landlord willfully withholds returning any part of the security deposit after 14 days then the tenant is automatically awarded 3x of the deposit.

I learned all about this in the last apartment I rented before buying a house. I was trying to work with the property management companies lawyer over how much it would cost to replace broken door (another long story), and the lawyer was of the mind that I owed them more than I had on deposit and I should set up a payment plan ASAP.

The 14 day limit passed and I got a summons that I was being sued for $1500 over the deposit for a couple of small things plus a empty heating oil tank (heat wasn't included). They said it was full when I moved in, but I produced a receipt that I paid for the tank to be filled on the day I moved in along with a voice mail from the actual landlord that said I didn't need to fill the tank when I moved out.

The lawyer immediately wanted to "settle" with them keeping the whole deposit, but I was happy to go to court. We were in front of the judge for less than a minute and they ended up paying almost 1/2 of the first year of my mortgage.

[hprotagonist]

I found a really lovely blog post a few years back where something like this happened. The landlord's lawyer's face apparently visibly collapsed when the tenant replied "oh, let me check my notes" on the stand in response to questioning and pulled out 3" of paper..