Landlord Billing One Deposit for Two Apartments After a Transfer

Attorney Answer

Two leases means two tenancies — and each deposit answers only for the unit it was paid on. A landlord cannot roll the old apartment's charges into the new apartment's move-out statement and hand you one bill.

Idaho Code § 6-321 governs what your landlord owes you. The landlord must refund the security deposit, or provide a written itemization within the refund period showing the amounts kept, the reasons for keeping them, and a detailed breakdown of the expenses charged against the deposit. The refund must come within 21 days if no time is fixed by agreement, and in no event later than 30 days after surrender of the premises where a longer period is fixed by written agreement. Deductions cannot be taken for normal wear and tear — deterioration from ordinary use, without negligence or misuse by you.

The statute is built around a single tenancy: a deposit, a surrender of that premises, and an accounting for that deposit. When you signed a second lease on a different unit, you created a second tenancy, with its own deposit and its own surrender date. That is why the move-out report showing your old move-in date and only one apartment is a problem worth pressing. Either the landlord accounted for the wrong tenancy, or the landlord is charging one deposit for damage at two units. Both are answerable with a demand for a proper itemization.

One practical point: § 6-321 is not self-executing. Nothing happens automatically because the landlord got it wrong. You have to demand the itemization, in writing, and keep proof you did.

What you can do

1. Pull both leases and both deposit receipts. Write down for each: unit number, lease start and end date, deposit amount, and the date you actually surrendered that unit and returned its keys. 2. Compare that list to the move-out report and mark every place the dates or the unit number are wrong. 3. Send a written demand — email plus certified mail — asking for a separate written itemization for each lease and each deposit, with the correct move-in, move-out, and surrender dates for each unit. Quote Idaho Code § 6-321's requirement of amounts kept, reasons, and a detailed breakdown of expenses. 4. In the same letter, state which charges you dispute and why: charges belonging to the old unit that were never applied against the old deposit, and anything that is normal wear and tear. 5. Attach whatever you have from the transfer — the move-out inspection of the first unit, photos on the day you left it, and any email approving the move to the second unit. 6. Keep everything dated. Do not resolve this by phone. If you must speak, follow up in writing the same day confirming what was said. 7. If the landlord will not correct it, small claims court is the practical venue for a deposit dispute, and the written demand you sent becomes your main exhibit.

⏱ Time limits apply. Idaho Code § 6-321 sets the landlord's refund-or-itemization window at 21 days if no time is fixed by agreement, and no later than 30 days after surrender where a longer period is fixed by written agreement. Which window applies to you depends on what your leases say and on your actual surrender dates for each unit, so put your written objection in well before the earlier of them closes.