Boyfriend Died, Tn, What Legally Happens To Security Deposit

Location: Tennessee.

My boyfriend died in October, his lease was supposed to end at the end of January. I was not on the lease, it was just in his name.

After he died in October I texted the landlord and asked if I could stay till the end of November and I personally paid him for one month of rent. (Oct was already paid)

Now it’s the end of November and I just did a walk-through with the landlord. (I took a video walk-through of the house before we did the in person walk-through so I have proof of the condition of the house at move out.)

There are absolutely no damages in the home. There are scuffs on the paint here and there throughout the house. The worst one being in the living room where the couch was against the wall, but there’s no damage to the wall, it can easily be covered up with paint I assume.

Anyway, my boyfriend had put down a decent security deposit for the place. I naïvely expected him (his estate) to get back at least a portion the deposit since there were no damages whatsoever. But the landlord is saying that he’s going to have to paint quite a few spots and he even asked me if I could contribute anything financially to help him. I said absolutely not, the contract was between my boyfriend and him. I even said that I didn’t think he could deduct from security deposit if it was just normal wear and tear. He said well he broke the lease… and I said by dying???? Crazy conversation.

I would just like to see what the laws are, and if he’s telling the truth that he doesn’t have to give the security deposit back since the lease was “broken.” and the landlord said he was going to try to go after the estate for additional charges outside of the security deposit.

This is really just for my information, as I don’t think the administrator of his estate is really going to pursue anything

Thank you