- Jurisdiction
- Delaware
My college roommates and I just graduated and moved out of the townhouse we lived in for 2 years. Long story short: our management changed mid-lease and didn't have our move-in checklist so I was very concerned about getting charged for damage we didn't do. I bought spackle to close up every hole and stayed until the last day of our lease to make sure the apartment was spotless. Incredibly, we only lost $25 (on an $1850 deposit). I am good friends with two of my roommates and the other we pretty much just co existed with. Come the weekend of move-out my two friend roommates helped to clean our whole house with me and helped to ensure we wouldn't be charged. Our fourth roommate cleaned out her side of her room and said goodbye. We found things she had left behind, and had to vacuum, clean, and spackle her side of the room. I am the security deposit designee so I now have our deposit back and my two roommates want to give her $275 back (originally paid $462 each) because she didn't help with anything. I'd like to charge her the $25 for not helping out but they're very adamant about her getting much less and all of us getting an extra ~$100. I don't think I can legally do this, and I'd really like to not deal with anything with this person again. While I definitely had issues with her, I don't think it's fair to do that to her. They both feel that if we hadn't cleaned and repaired the apartment in the way we did and left it in the condition she had left it in, then we would have lost much more and should therefore charge her accordingly. Do I have any legal right to withhold more money from her?
