New legal tech service helps renters recover security deposits in New York
A new legal service designed to help New York City renters recover their security deposits launched Friday.
The Depositron project seeks to help tenants by having them input their information and upload photos documenting the property’s condition. The app will then automatically generate a demand letter citing New York state law and legal warnings. This letter may be used as evidence in legal claims.
Currently, about 5,000 complaints seeking recovery of security deposits have been filed with the New York attorney general since 2023, according to a July 4 press release from Depositron. The result is 50% of small claims cases in Brooklyn, New York City, concern security deposit disputes, while the “majority of security deposit issues are probably unreported,” according to the press release.
According to the New York City comptroller’s analysis, there’s “an estimated $507 million tied up in deposits” throughout New York City.
While landlords are required to return security deposits within two weeks of a tenant’s move-out date, this practice is not always followed, the press release said.
“When nearly 5,000 New York tenants file complaints about withheld security deposits in just two years, we’re not looking at isolated incidents; we’re witnessing systematic barriers that prevent people from asserting their legal rights,” said Tom Martin, the CEO of LawDroid, the company that built Depositron, in the press release. “Technology deployed thoughtfully can ensure that justice is neither delayed nor denied to those who need it most.”
Sateesh Nori, a housing attorney, a professor at the New York University School of Law and a legal tech consultant at Just-Tech, conceived the idea to use artificial intelligence to recover security deposits in an effort to restore accountability and dignity in a system that has historically favored landlords.
“This is a step toward housing justice we can measure in real time,” Nori said in the press release.
Martin (2022) and Nori (2021) are ABA Journal Legal Rebels.
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