Need help,
I have a short term vacation rental that normally rents from Dec to May — due to COVID I rented for only 2 months— older women who had a cat — in contract there was a 500 sec and 500 pet deposit. There was also a condition report which she was to fill out if there were any problems and contact me immediately. When she arrived on day 1 she said it was great. She left March 31 and I had a quick turn around with a new tenant arriving for month of April. My cleaning lady went in on 31st and stated there was lots and lots of cat hair etc.. dirty floors and on and on — she did her best but it wasn’t clean enough for new tenant arriving April 1 - that tenant even tried to rectify the filth spent 4 hrs on her own and finally called and said the could not stay — she felt there were fleas in the home etc....I returned the April rent - 1,450— after taking a few days to calm done I contacted the tenant who had left the house in such disarray- I sent her pics and explained she would not be getting her pet deposit back due to conditions house was left in and her security because I lost an entire months rent— my question can I legally keep her security because her failure to return property to its original condition lost me 1450 + all the cleaning costs! She of course is threatening small claims — advise please