Rental Deposit Deductions for Damages and Cleaning — Can a Landlord Legally Withhold from Security Deposit?

Rohan Gupta owned a newly constructed 2BHK flat in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, which he rented out in early February 2024 to a family under a standard leave-and-licence agreement. The house was brand new at the time of handover — freshly painted, professionally cleaned, and documented with move-in photographs. About twelve months later, around 18 February 2025, the tenants vacated the property.

What Rohan found was troubling. The children in the family had drawn on multiple walls with crayons and sketch pens. Then the tenants had painted over those portions themselves using a mismatched shade, making everything look patchy and honestly worse than before. Two sections of plaster near the main bedroom door were chipped. And on top of all that, the wash area had been left with accumulated garbage and grime that needed a full professional clean-up.

Rohan deducted approximately Rs. 21,500 from the security deposit, based on Urban Company quotes for repainting and deep cleaning. The tenants demanded a full refund, turned aggressive, and eventually threatened legal action. He'd tried resolving it through mutual discussion and even sent a written explanation — but they wouldn't budge. He came to Advocate Sudhir Rao after those attempts failed, concerned about whether he had any legal exposure. After a thorough review of the rental agreement clauses, photographic evidence, and the deduction receipts, the matter was addressed with a structured legal response that gave Rohan a defensible, well-documented position that a more general approach simply hadn't been able to establish.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/rental-deposit-deduction-damages-cleaning-landlord-rights-in/