Portland small claims court denies tenant's request for return of $250 cleaning deduction

The Small Claims Court in Portland denied Nora Ellis's request for the return of $250 that landlord Calvin Redd withheld from her rental deposit for cleaning. Judgment was entered for Redd, and neither party was ordered to pay the other.

The court said Ellis had not established how much of the deduction, if any, should be returned. But it also made clear that the ruling did not establish that the full cleaning charge was attributable to her apartment.

The judge treated the cleaning invoice as evidence that a $250 charge was incurred after Ellis moved out. Its itemized detail, however, assigned part of the charge to another space, and it did not establish a particular amount attributable to her apartment or which tasks were necessary because of her tenancy.

Ellis's account that she cleaned before leaving supported her claim, but did not establish that no further cleaning was needed or that the entire deduction was improper. The judgment said the record gave no specific description of the rooms cleaned or an observation of the apartment's condition at move-out.

A move-out photo was described in the record, but the photo itself was not supplied to the court. There was also no move-out inspection record or deduction notice, leaving no reliable basis to calculate a partial refund.

Because Ellis was seeking the refund, she had to support the amount requested. The judge declined to select an arbitrary figure from evidence that could not establish either a specific refund or a specific amount properly attributable to the apartment.

Ellis said she cleaned the apartment herself before returning the keys and argued that the $250 should be returned. She also said she had been a good tenant and needed the money for her new place.

Redd argued that cleaning could still have been needed after Ellis left and relied on the invoice as evidence of a cost. He acknowledged that it did not support keeping the full $250, said he could not identify a specific amount attributable to her apartment, and asked the court to deny or reduce her request to the extent the evidence supported a charge.

The dispute arose after Ellis voluntarily moved out and Redd withheld $250 for cleaning. The case record describes a dated move-out photo showing a clear kitchen counter, while noting that not every room was photographed.

The decision resolves Ellis's refund claim on the evidence presented. It leaves unresolved how much cleaning, if any, was needed at her apartment and how much of the invoice related to it.