terms of the lease or tenancy, and moving and storage of the tenant's belongings. The landlord
may not retain any amount of the deposit for costs relating to ordinary wear and tear of
occupancy or damage caused by a prior tenant.
* * *
(e) Within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord
shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement indicating the basis for the amount of the
deposit retained, if any, and shall return any remaining portion of the deposit to the tenant. If a
landlord fails to provide the tenant with the statement and deposit within fourteen days, the
landlord shall forfeit any right to retain any portion of the deposit"
(General Obligations Law § 7-108 [1-a] [b], [e]). "[B]y the plain terms of the
statute only the obligations in subdivision (e) are subject to a penalty of forfeiture if they are not
complied with" (14 E. 4th St. Unit 509 LLC, 203 AD3d 17).
Here, claimant vacated the premises in mid-December 2020, but for the purposes of this trial,
the parties stipulated that the date of vacatur was December 31, 2020. Thus, defendant was
required to provide claimant with an itemized statement and any remaining portion of the deposit
by Friday, January 14, 2021.
Because defendant neither timely returned claimant's entire security deposit nor timely
provided her with an itemized statement and any portion of the deposit, defendant has forfeited
any right to retain any portion of claimant's deposit.
Therefore, claimant is entitled to recover the full amount of her security deposit from
defendant, i.e., $1,327.93.
The evidence at trial established that defendant had kept the security deposit in an
interest-bearing bank account. Under those circumstances, a tenant is generally entitled to