Is it illegal for my former landlord to charge me for mold under the tub?

I rented a house with a friend for 8 months. When we moved out the landlord said everything was fine when we did the walk through. He said he was doing renovations so we didnt scrub down the house when we moved. He called me a couple days later and said he found mold under the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. The jacuzzi tub had a side that kept coming off and we informed the landlord several times about it. He told me that we must have flooded the tub! As someone concerned with my health as is my friend we would not willfully flood the tub or neglectfully do so. This mold could have been there before we moved in and now he’s charging me $315 for the mold removal and $135 for a cleaning fee!!! I know that the cleaning fee is an illegal charge and will be sending the proper form to the Landlord and Tenant act but what can i do about the mold charge? He took $500 from me as a hydro deposit in which the hydro was only $247.65. He is now withholding the rest of my deposit saying its for cleaning and the mold and telling me I owe him another $199!!! What else can I do to get my money back?

If you have the documentation to back up everything you state, you can take him to court. However when you rent usually unless it is as clean as when you moved in you will not recover your deposit. Sounds like you are fighting him and now he is fighting you back in order to keep the full deposit. I believe his request for an additoinal $199 is a threat and only that. But if you want to fight it, take him to court.

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