New Brunswick tenant wins eight-month fight to retrieve $850 security deposit

An $850 security deposit Jaclyn Reinhart paid back in 2018 to rent a Saint John apartment is finally being returned to her by the province but without interest and only after she spent months fighting the landlord to prove she was entitled to the money.  

"It is exhausting. It was exhausting for me and I'm a fighter," Reinhart said of the effort required to reclaim her money. 

"Other people I'm sure would have given up a long time ago."

Reinhart and her children moved into an east Saint John apartment in August 2018. In addition to the rent she paid to the local landlord who then owned the building, she paid an $850 security deposit that he forwarded to the province.

New Brunswick allows landlords to charge a new tenant an amount equal to one month's rent, to be held by the Tenant and Landlord Relations Office as security.

It can be paid out to the landlord if a tenant defaults on rent, causes "wilful or negligent" damage, steals from the unit or leaves a mess behind that requires cleaning by the landlord before the unit can be re-rented.

Otherwise, the deposit belongs to the tenant and is to be returned when the apartment is vacated.

In March 2022, Reinhart's original landlord sold the building to investors from Coquitlam, B.C.  

In November that year, Reinhart reported to the local property manager that a small crack had appeared in the unit's bathtub. In January 2023, shortly after a contractor looked at the tub, Reinhart received notice her lease was being terminated that spring so her unit could be renovated.

In early April, Reinhart bought her own house. When she moved out of the apartment, she applied for the return of the $850 security deposit she had paid the original landlord in 2018.

She was told the new landlord, Curtis Yamada, was alleging she left thousands of dollars in damage behind and was making a claim for the security deposit himself.

"I was shaking, I was like what is this," said Reinhart. 

WATCH | Renovicted tenant describes 'awful' process fighting for damage deposit:

"I followed everything I was supposed to do. I cleaned the entire apartment and even hired people. I made sure baseboards were cleaned, light fixtures, I washed the walls, everything. I feel you could have eaten off the floors.