Roommate removing part of my deposit for cleaning

Hi, this is in Washington, and the lease ended about a month and a half ago.

I sub-leased my old room about 3 months before our lease had ended and now that it's ended my ex-roommate won't refund my part of the deposit.

The landlord returned our entire deposit and one of my ex-roommates was given a single check although she removed nearly all of my portion ($600) for failing to show up to a "cleaning party". She told me about this via text and I said I wasn't feeling well so I coudn't attend although I came by later to finish cleaning and make sure my old room was clean. She took off $500 from only my deposit for cleaning fees (she and her friends cleaned) and dispersed it to herself, her friends, and one of our other roommates (at $20/hr).

Is she legally able to divide my part of deposit like this? Without a formal agreement?

I cleaned my room as well as parts of the house when I moved out before the subletor moved in and I have pictures of the clean room.

Note: the single check is part of the lease agreement. The agreement says the landlord gives back one check to the roommate and then they are to "proportion" this amount to the other roommates.

She did not give me a receipt, only a breakdown of her math: basically 5 people at $20/hr for 5 hours.
She didn't explain before-hand or make an estimate.
This was just cleaning. no painting, no carpet-cleaning, no fixing, etc.
I did not break the lease, I followed the subletting agreement and the landlord OK'd it.

Basically:
People came and cleaned. She got our deposit back. She wrote herself/them checks.

Can she can legally take any amount of money from my deposit? The landlord already agreed to give the entire deposit back, does she have any authority?

Wow! How large of a place is it that requires 5 people to clean for 5 hours? That's 25 hours of cleaning!!! The place would have to be a pigsty for that amount of cleaning! And $20 an hour? Are these professionals? I don't know of any cleaning service that charges me $20 an hour for 5 people. And your portion of this was $500? For just one room and your part of the common space? I don't think so.

While your room may have been clean before you sublet, you are responsible for the condition after your sublet tenant moves out. You are responsible for his or her mess or failure of any obligation. Had that tenant not paid rent, you would have been obligated to pay that too. That is subletting.

However, the cost for this is way too high. You should send a challenge letter to the roommate and dispute these charges. State that your room was only XXX sq. ft. and that your share of common areas was only xxx sq. ft. (the total area of all common areas divided by the number of tenants in the place.) Then state that there is no way that the total of these two areas needed 25 hours of cleaning. Additionally state that $20 an hour is too much to pay for cleaning since that is a non-skilled job and could be filled by anyone at minimum wage. Additionally, state that she failed to give you an itemized statement of deductions from your deposit as required and has provided no proof (photos, receipts, etc.) that these areas required this amount of cleaning. Demand your deposit in full be returned to you within 10 days. Send this notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy of the letter. If she fails to return your money, give an itemized statement of cleaning necessary, or receipts 0 file against her in small claims court.

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to try mediation before small claims so I can prove to a judge that I exhausted all my options (do I still need to send her a demand, certified mail/return-receipt?)

I'm still wondering if it's legal for her to take "any" amount out of my deposit? Did she have any right?

These were not professionals, it was her and her friends. I've been looking at professional cleaning estimates and they're nowhere near $480 for our five bedroom house. Also, I hadn't realized this but I believe she's try to say it cost her $480 to clean the *entire* house, not just my room and the common room but every room, including hers (which isn't my responsibility!).

She got the $20/hr from our lease which states that if the landlord has to do any remaining cleaning after we vacated, he'd hire a service and charge that rate (I'm assuming it wouldn't be 25 hours worth!)

[sandyclaus]

I can see the roommate charging you a REASONABLE amount for your share of cleaning efforts that were expended. But to charge you for EVERYONE's efforts? No way!

You would have been 1 of 6 persons who were doing the cleaning. Each of the remaining 5 people took on part of your work, so it seems only fair to charge you 1/5 of the total, or $100 for doing your share of the cleaning (assuming $20/hr is found to be a reasonable rate).

UPDATE:

I met with my roommate today to try and settle but she wouldn't budge!

She's arguing that I forfeited the right to my security deposit since she texted me 2-3 times demanding I show up to the cleaning (I did not respond to her texts) and that means she had the right to do whatever she wanted with it as she would be the one getting the single check (with all our deposits).

I argued she did have the authority nor was she delegated the rights over my deposit (only the landlord can). She said in the lease she is able to since the person who receives the single check from the landlord must "proportion the refund appropriately".

Apparently she called the landlord and he said "Do whatever, I don't care".

Is there any legal truth to this? Did I really waive the rights to my deposit by not responding to texts?

Absolutely not true. You cannot be made to waive the rights to anything. No LL can make any tenant waive the deposit. So how could a co-tenant? She does not have the right to do whatever she likes with others' money. A LL must properly account for any deductions he makes from a deposit. The roommate who had your deposit had the obligation to do likewise.

The LL told her to proportion the refund APPROPRIATELY. She didn't. She 1) benefited by charging you for cleaning the whole house and not just your areas and 2) failed to fairly deduct reasonable charges for any damages you were responsible for ($20 an hour for a cleaning party?!!!). Additionally, she 3) failed to properly account for those deductions (no itemized statement) and 4) failed to provide proof (photos, receipts, etc.) to you to explain why so many hours were needed to clean only the areas you were responsible for.

The LL doesn't care. That is the only part of this that is true. He knows that since he refunded the deposit in full he is in the clear. No one can sue him because he did his job.

Send her that letter, then file in court. Show these objections to the judge and make her prove each one. I seriously doubt the judge is going to charge you that amount of money to pay them while they "partied" and did a little cleaning!

Take her to small claims court. She is cannot legally withhold your portion of the security deposit. I would also speak directly to the landlord to find out exactly what he/she DID say.

The only person with any legal authority whatsoever to hold your security deposit is the landlord. This roommate is taking it upon herself to be a proxy landlord and she has no authority to do so. In effect, she stole money from you. File a small claims lawsuit against her. Some people need to learn life's lessons the hard way. She sounds like one of them.

It will do you no good to talk to the LL. The LL refunded all of the deposit and is now out of the picture. His obligation was met and he will want no part of any dispute between the roommates. He likely won't even listen to you since he refunded all the money. All he will tell you is that it is between you and your roommate.

You have to send a letter to the roommate to prove you did all you could to avoid court. (Otherwise they may send you back to mediation once it gets to court.) Since you know that is useless (as you already tried to reason with her) you want to be able to show the judge that you acted responsibly and attempted to settle this out of court. Send the letter, then sue her.

UPDATE:

I wrote her a formal demand letter explaining why I think she owes me money, specifically demanding the money and giving her 14 days to refund the deposit. I also stated that I intend to take legal action if mediation didn't work or she refused to pay. My question is: Do I need to wait 14 days? Or can I file the claim now?

I'm still going to attempt mediation before the court date.

I would give her the time to respond. When you go in front of a judge, you want to be seen as the voice of reason. You tried to negotiate in person, sent her a letter, gave her time to respond, offered to pay a fair price for whatever cleaning was your responsibility. If she fails to respond or states she will not budge, file in court. You are willing to pay what is fair to clean you areas, just not to pay her and her friends to clean the entire place!