Free 4-page worksheet · no email required
Not ready to fight your landlord? Start by getting your facts together.
You do not need to decide today whether to send a demand, go to court, or do anything confrontational at all.
Start smaller. Put the important dates, amounts, deductions, documents, and evidence in one place. Once the facts are organized, it becomes much easier to see what happened — and decide whether it is worth doing anything about it.
This is not a lawsuit. It is not a demand letter. It is simply the first useful step.
Free PDF · 4 pages · fill it in by hand or type into it · no email required
Get organized first
Turn the whole dispute into one case file.
Right now your case may be scattered across a lease, text messages, bank records, photos, an itemized deduction list, and your own memory. The intake form gives all of that a structure.
You do not need to know which facts are legally important yet. Just write down what you know.
Security Deposit Intake Form
Free PDF · 4 pages · no signup
Keep your completed form somewhere you can find it. If you decide to take the next step, you will already have the basic facts gathered.
What goes into it
You already know most of the answers.
The form is designed around facts about your own tenancy — not legal questions.
People & property
Your name, your landlord, the rental address, lease dates, and who else was on the lease.
Money & dates
How much deposit you paid, when you moved out, what was returned, and when the landlord responded.
Deductions
What the landlord says the money was used for and which charges you believe are wrong.
Evidence
Photos, messages, receipts, inspection records, the lease, and other documents you may already have.
Your version of events
The basic story of what happened, including anything unusual about the move-out or deposit return.
Loose ends
Anything you do not know yet can stay blank. Getting organized does not require having a perfect file.
The point of starting here
You do not have to decide today whether you are willing to sue.
First find out whether you may have something worth fighting for.
That is why this page starts with a worksheet instead of a sales pitch. Organizing the facts is useful whether you eventually pursue the money, negotiate with the landlord, take the free assessment, or decide the dispute is not worth your time.
The goal is to replace the vague feeling of “my landlord ripped me off” with something more useful:
“Here is what happened. Here is what they kept. Here is what I can prove. Now I can make a decision.”
What happens next
Three steps. No commitment beyond the one you are on.
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1
Fill in what you know
Start with the intake form. If something is missing, leave it blank. If you want help gathering documents, use the free evidence and document checklist.
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2
Find out whether the situation looks worth pursuing
The free case assessment asks about the important facts and gives you a preliminary case-strength signal. Its job is not to push you toward court. Its job is to help you stop guessing.
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3
Then decide what you want to do
If the situation looks worth pursuing, you can make a serious demand. If the landlord pays or agrees to an acceptable settlement, the dispute ends there. No court. If the landlord refuses, then you decide whether small claims is worth it.
When your facts are together
The next question is simple: does this look worth pursuing?
The free assessment is a stripped-down preliminary review of your situation. It is not the Demand Letter Companion, and it does not commit you to buying anything.
The free assessment answers:
“Does this look worth pursuing?”
The Demand Letter Companion answers the question that comes after that:
“Okay. What do I do next?”
Start the Free Case Assessment
Free · about 5–10 minutes · preliminary legal information, not legal advice
There is no single required outcome
Getting organized gives you choices.
You are not climbing onto a conveyor belt that ends in a courtroom. Once you know the facts, there are several perfectly reasonable places the process can stop.
It may not be worth pursuing
If the facts or amount at stake do not justify the effort, you can make that decision with more confidence instead of wondering whether you simply gave up too early.
A demand may resolve it
If the situation looks strong enough to pursue, a serious demand gives the landlord an opportunity to pay or settle before a lawsuit is necessary.
Small claims remains available
If the landlord refuses to resolve the dispute, you can then decide whether to keep going. Court is the backup plan — not the starting point.
If you decide to move forward
You do not have to figure out the rest by yourself.
The Demand Letter Companion picks up where this form leaves off. It reads your lease, asks for the facts it needs, checks your state's rules, and writes a demand letter you approve. Everything happens on the site. There's nothing to upload into another AI tool and no AI subscription to buy.
Buying it does not mean deciding to sue. It means getting organized and making a serious demand. If the landlord pays, you're done.
Start as small as you need to
You do not need a legal strategy today. You need your facts in one place.
Download the intake form. Fill in what you know. That is enough for today.
No email. No purchase. No commitment to court.