In reality, something like this wouldn't take you 3 years. However, I can't fault you for not wanting to go into court pro se; it's not a good position to be in

In reality, something like this wouldn't take you 3 years. However, I can't fault you for not wanting to go into court pro se; it's not a good position to be in. Interestingly, in some jurisdictions, provisions like these also carry attorney's fees to the prevailing tenant (i.e., asymmetric fee-shifting). So your landlord would be facing exposure to not only the underlying deposit and penalty and their own attorney's fees, but also possibly yours as well.