I don't believe that fighting for your rights can be called revenge..

I always felt that treating tenants fairly would result in better, longer staying tenants.. Win/win for all involved..

tl;dr.

I must be lucky. No landlord of mine has ever kept any of my deposit.

24.8% admitted it? It’s more like 99% in actuality. I just won a lawsuit against a property management co that tried to charge me to replace the entire master bedroom carpet because it came unravelled at the edge and my vacuum caught it and pulled more out. On top of that, the estimate they gave me (not a receipt) was for a room exactly twice the size of the actual room. They sent a collection agency after me and then refused to take my calls, so I sued them for my deposit and all court fees and time off work. When they realized they were going to lose they offered to simply keep my whole deposit and remove the additional cost they were charging me. I sued and won. Never let these unethical jerks get away with ripping you off just because it’s inconvenient to go after them.