AITA for keeping my subletter’s deposit after she left for a family emergency?

I sublet my spare room to Maya for four months. Our written agreement required thirty days’ notice, and the deposit equaled one month’s rent.

Six weeks in, Maya’s father had a stroke. She packed that night and flew home. She texted that she would not return and understood if I kept enough of the deposit to cover a few days.

I kept all of it.

The room remained empty for twenty-four days before a new tenant moved in. I spent one afternoon cleaning, and Maya had left no damage.

She asked for the unused portion after seeing my listing marked rented. I said the deposit secured the notice period, not only damage, and the new tenant had required a lower weekly rate.

Maya says a legal clause can still be used cruelly. She had already lost wages and was helping pay for rehabilitation equipment. I had enough savings to carry the room.

I say her emergency did not transfer the cost of a suddenly empty room to me. What I have not emphasized is that the deposit covered thirty full days while my actual vacancy was twenty-four, and the lower future rent is not a loss caused during her notice period.

I followed the agreement at its maximum when the facts may justify less.