I am an idiot. Let me start out by acknowledging that. I moved out of a 3-unit row-house in Brooklyn on August 5th, and instead of refusing to pay for the final month - like you do - and telling the landlord to take it out of my deposit, I paid in full for August, and trusted that he would return my deposit. (I had taken excellent care of the place - despite the fact that the house is so decrepit it was literally falling down around me, e.g., dining room ceiling caved in last February.)
I told the landlord - who lived in the unit below - that I would return the following Saturday to finish putting the place in order. Again, I had paid for the entire month so I reasonably expected to have more than ample time to address anything that may have genuinely needed addressing.
Landlord called me that night, thanked me for being an "excellent tenant," and said he had already "inspected the unit." He told me there was "no need" for me to return - accepting the apartment in the condition it was in on the 5th. (I had already cleaned much of it while the movers were doing their thing - I am a total neat freak - so I didn't question this.) Landlord only asked that I send him an email formally and immediately vacating the apartment so he could give his new tenant the keys early. He said if I did this, he would immediately return my deposit. He put this in writing in several follow-up text messages. (I was busy unpacking, and so did not immediately send the requested email - I had planned to do it the next day, but he hounded me via text messages after 11PM until I stopped what I was doing, composed the email, and sent it.)
Then - that JERK! - he turned around and kept 55% of the deposit, and for total B.S. things, e.g., cable box rental (despite the fact that cable was part of my rent, which I paid in full); replacement of toilet seat (not because the one I left was broken, but because he didn't like the color - which he put in writing!); repair of a threshold plate at the house's front door that had been broken the entire time I lived there; et al.
Even if there was damage to the unit that went beyond the reasonable wear and tear standard - which there was not! - I maintain that the landlord's deception ALONE requires the return of the full deposit. A landlord may not TRICK a tenant into relinquishing his right to return and address anything that may need addressing as a means to cheat him out of his deposit, correct?
After all, he induced me under false pretenses into sending him that email formally vacating the unit early - while praising me for being an extraordinary tenant, and assuring me that there was no need for me to return. And also promising that this would allow him to expedite the return of my deposit - he put this in writing in his text messages.
What can I do to compel him to return the balance of my deposit?
Thanks in advance for any advice/thoughts!