H-L Apartments v. Al-Qawiyy

CARTER, Justice.

Plaintiff, H-L Apartments (landlord), brought a small claims action against former tenants, Zaid and Salimah Al-Qawiyy, seeking to recover damages for the cost of cleaning and repairing the leased premises, and for a portion of the rent which had not been paid. The tenants counterclaimed seeking punitive damages under Iowa Code section 562A.12(7) (1987) for bad faith withholding of the rental deposit by the landlord. The magistrate awarded the landlord damages, but reduced the amount of the recovery by a sum equal to twice the $225 rental deposit as a penalty for the…