Wake County Small Claims Court orders return of $150 cleaning fee to Evan Mercer

Wake County Small Claims Court entered judgment for Evan Mercer and directed Cedar Key Rentals LLC to pay him $150 after finding that the landlord had not proved the condition required under the lease to retain a move-out cleaning fee. Mercer had sought return of the $150 deduction and court costs; the court awarded the fee but denied further relief because it was not proven on the record.

The court held that the lease permitted a $150 cleaning deduction only where the tenant failed to return the unit in reasonably clean condition. It found that Cedar Key had not established that condition.

• Judgment was entered for Evan Mercer.
• Cedar Key Rentals LLC shall pay Mercer $150.00.
• The request for further relief was denied.

The court treated the signed lease clause as the strongest written evidence. It established that Cedar Key could deduct $150 if the apartment was not returned in reasonably clean condition, but the clause did not itself establish that the deduction was justified in this instance.

Mercer relied on his account that he cleaned before returning the keys and on photographs taken on move-out day. The court found that the materials were not complete proof of every part of the apartment, but were direct evidence supporting his account of the unit's condition at move-out.

Cedar Key argued that the photographs did not show every area, particularly the inside of the oven. The court held that this created uncertainty but did not prove that the apartment was not reasonably clean. Cedar Key did not identify a specific dirty condition with sufficient detail, and acknowledged that its invoice did not itemise the cleaning tasks.

The court gave weight to the absence of a detailed invoice or room-by-room account of the work said to be necessary. It concluded that Cedar Key had not carried the burden of proving the contractual condition for retaining the fee. As the judgment stated, “The remaining gap is not a reason to keep the money; it is a reason to find the charge unproven.”

The court also found that Mercer had sufficiently supported his refund claim through the lease language and move-out photographs. It did not award any amount beyond $150 because no larger amount was proved.

“A landlord may not keep a cleaning fee merely by saying the photos are incomplete; it must point to reliable facts showing the condition that triggered the fee.”

Mercer submitted that he cleaned the apartment before surrendering it, took photographs on move-out day and retained those photographs on his phone. He argued that the lease required reasonable cleanliness rather than professional cleaning, and that Cedar Key had not identified a particular area left unreasonably dirty.

He sought return of the $150 cleaning fee and court costs. He also said he had not observed damage when he left the apartment.

Cedar Key accepted that the lease allowed the fee only if the unit was not returned in reasonably clean condition. It contended that Mercer's photographs did not show every area, especially the inside of the oven, and therefore did not conclusively establish the apartment's condition.

The landlord acknowledged that its record lacked a room-by-room list of dirty conditions and that its invoice did not itemise the precise cleaning tasks. It asked the court to deny the refund or, if it found the proof incomplete, reduce the relief.

The dispute concerned a $150 cleaning charge retained by Cedar Key Rentals LLC after Mercer's move-out. The parties agreed that their lease contained a clause allowing a $150 deduction if the tenant failed to return the apartment in reasonably clean condition.

The lease did not define the phrase “reasonably clean,” according to the record. Mercer maintained that he cleaned the apartment on the morning of move-out and documented its condition with photographs. Cedar Key maintained that the photographs did not cover all potentially relevant areas.

The outcome is confined to the evidence presented in this small-claims dispute: the lease clause, Mercer's move-out account and photographs, and Cedar Key's non-itemised cleaning record. The court's order returns the $150 fee, while denying unproved additional relief.