My daughter rented a house from Invitation homes for a couple years and moved to another of their homes in another location. After that lease was up she moved again but not to an Invitation home.
Her first move from one of their places they gave back almost all of the deposit. When she moved out of the second house they had a guy come out and inspect the house and he was happy with the condition of the place. A few days later she gets a letter stating she would not get any deposit back ($1775) and that she owed THEM $550! They charged for the yard being unkempt even though there was no yard at all when they moved in. My daughter put stuff at the street to go with the trash and they charged her a couple hundred for that.
I co-signed on the lease and I went around and around with those thieves. We didn’t pay the 550 and they sold the debt to a collection agency. I negotiated with them to get it down to $300 and I paid that. We believe they steal deposits when you leave their houses because they can. I didn’t have the time or the energy to take them to court.
I have heard horror stories from people who served in the military about post/base housing. There is one, per perhaps a few, "unofficially" approved cleaning services. Use them, and all is well when you transfer to somewhere else. Don't use them, and no matter how immaculately you cleaned the place before leaving, you are hit with a massive bill for cleaning. Fail to pay it promptly, and you are cross ways with your branch of service. Try to fight the charge from you new posting, and you will spend $$$ and leave time amounting to more than the charge.
The best part is that the place was filthy when you moved in, even though the last occupant paid a cleaning fee to the approved cleaning service.