Security Deposit and Housing Court

Oops, the page refreshed and I forgot to change the Category back to Rentals. This also showed up in Sales but I meant for it to be here: I'd like to know the success rate of getting back a security deposit if you take your landlord to Housing Court. Also, I assume many (and definitely my) landlords will charge a ridiculous sum for some minor damage. How do you fight that kind of thing in court?... [more]

Oops, the page refreshed and I forgot to change the Category back to Rentals. This also showed up in Sales but I meant for it to be here: I'd like to know the success rate of getting back a security deposit if you take your landlord to Housing Court. Also, I assume many (and definitely my) landlords will charge a ridiculous sum for some minor damage. How do you fight that kind of thing in court? Is the judge usually deferential to whatever the landlord wanted to charge for it? Based on past actions, I am 99% sure my landlord is going to try to screw me out of a security deposit. I took pictures of the apartment about a week after move-in, but I never printed them out and they're just sitting on my camera right now because I forgot to enable the time stamp option so the date only appears on the camera. Also, the apartment was a typical first NYC slummy apartment with a bunch of half-assed repairs and broken things that the landlord never repaired. I got on my landlord's butt about it a few times but there were so many things that took them forever to get around to that I just kind of gave up on the minor stuff (window locks never fixed, mailbox never fixed, etc.). I plan on cleaning before I move (not extensively because it was very dirty when I got there...they never cleaned like they promised to) but just get any residue off bathroom tiles and clean out the fridge and oven. The only damage I can think of is some minor drywall repair that I did myself but did not paint over. The landlord will definitely have to recaulk the bathroom, but it was falling apart when I got there. I actually recaulked just to close up the holes, but they keep coming. Any advice or experiences from those who have gone through the process is much appreciated. [less]