By now, every renter who left an apartment on Aug. 14 or 15 should have received a security deposit refund with an itemized list of any deductions taken by the landlord.

But for many renters, especially University of Wisconsin students, this is not the case.

Under city of Madison laws, landlords have 21 days after tenants vacate their apartments or houses to return the deposit — which is not to be more than one month’s rent — along with five percent interest if it totaled more than one-half of one month’s rent.

Deductions may not be made for normal wear and tear. This includes carpet cleaning, painting, and window cleaning, unless there is unusual damage or staining.

If the deposit is not returned within 21 days, no deductions may be made, regardless of damage.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said landlords tend to take advantage of students.

“I don’t want to paint all landlords with a broad brush, but many landlords feel they can get away with more with their student tenants, who don’t always know their rights,” Verveer said. “UW-Madison has 40,000 students, and the vast majority are renters. This time of year there is a huge number of problems related to security deposit returns, and unhappy tenants with withheld money”.

Megin Hicks, program director at Madison’s Tenant Resource Center, agreed.

“Students are maybe not used to standing up for their rights, they have less experience as renters, and they’re younger,” she said. “Regardless of student status, tenants can be very mobile people, and generally if the amount is less than $100, they think it’s not worth the effort.”

Verveer said Madison has the strongest tenants’ rights policies in Wisconsin, yet many tenants still experience problems because they do not know their rights.

“The complaints I get are almost all from renters whose landlords have deducted unreasonable amounts of money for cleaning costs. Many times tenants go back to their old apartments to find that no meaningful cleaning has actually been done by the landlord. This is more than a difference of opinion,” he said. “Many students see the landlord as having the upper hand, being high and mighty because they have the money, and don’t think that it is worth pursuing for a couple of hundred dollars.”

Hicks said the first step tenants can take is to simply write a letter to their landlord as soon as possible, specifying their complaints and giving him or her a deadline to respond.

“A lot of times that alone is enough to make the landlord reconsider, and they often do so very quickly. Not all landlords are out to screw their tenants,” Hicks said.

If tenants get a negative response — or none at all — from their landlords, Verveer recommended they contact the Tenant Resource Center, which is paid for by both student seg fees and city taxes.

The next step for the tenant is to take the landlord to small claims court. A lawyer is not necessary for such a case, and the tenant will have to complete a small claims form at Madison’s City/County building as well as pay a small filing fee.

In Madison, if a landlord is found guilty in court, the landlord must pay the tenant up to two to three times the amount wrongfully withheld, as well as a reimbursement for the filing fee.

Outside of Madison, a guilty landlord will have to pay up to double the disputed amount.

“Most judges in Madison will award the tenant two times the damages if the security deposit was not returned within 21 days with a five percent interest,” Verveer said.

Both Hicks and Verveer agreed that an important step for renters to take to preventing such disputes is to thoroughly fill out their check-in forms, which the landlord is required by law to give them. Tenants should then make copies of the form for their records.

Verveer said that tenants should find any existing damage they feel they may be charged for when they vacate the apartment. Tenants can also take photographs and put date stamps on them for their records.

“Chronology is very important to prove that damage was already there when they moved in,” Verveer said.