You are right about most people not knowing their rights. But for a lot of people they have to take the landlord to a court of law, as just pushing them in usually not enough. In fact there was one landlord that I know that made a habit of never giving deposits back he would stretch things to cover the deposit and charge additional charges on things that were pre existing that people did not list on a move in and move out walk through inspection form.

I have for many years now made sure that I take measures to get my deposit back all because of one bad landlord that tried to charge me for things that were pre-existing in the apartment. I will never be a victim to that again.

And thats the problem in a nutshell, not knowing your rights - getting to know your rights though is not the easiest thing to do, the citezens advice bureau are over worked and under-funded and getting an appointment is like finding gold dust

I had to fight with the last apartment manager to get my deposit back. It was when I lived in Michigan. Right towards the end of our agreement our diswasher stopped working and I called several times to get them to fix it. Then one day I sorta snapped and flew off the handle cussing at them for ignoring my request to come out and fix it. Then when we moved they claimed we broke the dishwasher and weren't going to give us back our deposit. Long story short I ended up getting a lawyer friend of mine to stop by their lease office and speak with them, next day there was a check in the mail to us for the full deposit.

Im always wary about giving my deposit to people as im sure i wont get it back so always try to get out of it!
I always believe that with deposits you loose them as soon as you give it to the other person!

I have never had a problem with a security deposit, fortunately. My mom did have a problem once when she had a birthday party for my younger brother at the park. The park ranger wouldn't give the deposit back, claiming that it wasn't clean enough. Fortunately she ended up getting it back though.

I got my security deposits back every time except on one apartment - and that one I agreed with the guy. My ex-husband had put his fist through the wall and refused to fix it or get it fixed, so our security deposit went bye-bye.

The first thing I do is go over the apartment or rental car or whatever and take a note of everything wrong with it and get the renter / leasing agent to sign the thing. I cover my butt as much as possible.

Yeah it's definitely important to push toward not having to pay a deposit when possible but if you do get every single detail that you can. It is very easy for a company to have fine print that you pass over or don't read closely enough which can result in you losing your deposit.

My ex-girlfriend paid a deposit on a Honda Accord that she decided not to buy. She found the exact same car with fewer miles and a little cleaner interior. The 1st dealer refused to give her the deposit back stating she knew it was non-refundable. You have to get ALL the terms clear upfront. If you really want the car, boat, house, you can negotiate with most sellers so the non-refundable deposit is refundable. Make that part of the deal or keep stepping to the next seller.

--
ForceField

Force, I ran into the same problem. I tried to get my "non-refundable" deposit back and the dealer insisted I knew the terms. I finally gave up and chalked it up as lesson learned. Get all the details of the agreement upfront and make sure you understand what these fast talkers are telling you. I was guilty of nodding my head in agreement with everything because I was eager to get into the car! Now I am out of my $250 because I really did not understand everything they were telling me.