What to do about landlord returning deposit late? (tenant, rental, deposits)

[dyh]

I need advice about a bad landlord situation. He was ****ty from the time I moved in, but this really pissed me off.

I moved out of the studio cottage he owned October 31. Before I left he said he wanted the last 2 months utilities, but didn't give me the printout I requested. After I moved out, he ignored my request to finalize all transactions by voicemail and text messages.

Finally, on Dec 16 I had to send him a certified letter stating that if he didn't return my deposit within a week I'd take him to small claims court.

Yesterday, the day before the 7 days were up, he sends me a lengthy text message saying he wasn't trying to screw me but that he's in Southern California trying to spend what little time he has with his mother who's dying of cancer. He wanted to know if I could wait till after Jan 1 to send the deposit, but that if I still was going to take him to court he'd just have to deal with it.

While I don't think he's lying about his mother having cancer, I do feel that he could have returned my deposit and responded to me earlier and he was trying to stall for whatever reason.

What I thought about saying is that at this point, because it will be over 2 months, he has 2 options:

1. Return my deposit plus a $100 late fee, and dismiss what I owe for utilities, which is probably between $60-80.
or
2. I take him to small claims court where he could be responsible for up to twice the amount of the $500 deposit, ie $1000, for basically ignoring the law and making things difficult for me.

I have things I need to pay for with this deposit, and he's made it a pain in the ass for me to try to recover it. Ignoring me so I had to talk to a housing rights counselor several times, and I also had to go to their office to get some documents, wasting my time and money.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Edit: Btw, this is in the state of California (bay area).

[jdm2008]

Originally Posted by dyh

I need advice about a bad landlord situation. He was ****ty from the time I moved in, but this really pissed me off.

I moved out of the studio cottage he owned October 31. Before I left he said he wanted the last 2 months utilities, but didn't give me the printout I requested. After I moved out, he ignored my request to finalize all transactions by voicemail and text messages.

Finally, on Dec 16 I had to send him a certified letter stating that if he didn't return my deposit within a week I'd take him to small claims court.

Yesterday, the day before the 7 days were up, he sends me a lengthy text message saying he wasn't trying to screw me but that he's in Southern California trying to spend what little time he has with his mother who's dying of cancer. He wanted to know if I could wait till after Jan 1 to send the deposit, but that if I still was going to take him to court he'd just have to deal with it.

While I don't think he's lying about his mother having cancer, I do feel that he could have returned my deposit and responded to me earlier and he was trying to stall for whatever reason.

What I thought about saying is that at this point, because it will be over 2 months, he has 2 options:

1. Return my deposit plus a $100 late fee, and dismiss what I owe for utilities, which is probably between $60-80.
or
2. I take him to small claims court where he could be responsible for up to twice the amount of the $500 deposit, ie $1000, for basically ignoring the law and making things difficult for me.

I have things I need to pay for with this deposit, and he's made it a pain in the ass for me to try to recover it. Ignoring me so I had to talk to a housing rights counselor several times, and I also had to go to their office to get some documents, wasting my time and money.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Edit: Btw, this is in the state of California (bay area).

If it were me I would accept his offer of the deposit in full on January 1st and be done with it. Yes you are entitled to treble damages if you sue, BUT I'm sure the small claims court judge will not look too kindly on you if you sue him after he offered you the full deposit. It is my understanding that small claims court is more like Judge Judy than real court so there is no guarantee that the small claims court will feel sorry for your landlord and rule against you. I would accept his offer and tell him(nicely) that you are not going to ask again.

Also did you provide a forwarding address, and if so when?

[dyh]

Thanks for the reply. I provided a forwarding address the day I moved out. It was on top of the keys so I know he got it.

To be honest I'm done being nice. I was nice the whole time and the only thing he responds to are threats about court.

[Ultrarunner]

Helped a few friends and co-workers get deposits returned... in each case it required the owner be served... in each case the money was refunded in full within 24 hours.

CA law is very specific...

The downside is you have to file and have him served... I've rarely heard of tenants being awarded damages... it does happen depending on the discretion of the Judge.

Another point is winning doesn't equate with getting paid... you still need to collect and that is a topic for another thread.

[dyh]

I gave him a choice between those 2 options I posted. I gave him till today to answer and haven't gotten a response yet, but I guess I'll need to wait till Monday to file if he doesn't respond.

I'm done being nice. He did **** like this the whole time I lived there and this is the last straw.

I don't know what judges are like, but I'd be surprised if the judge weren't on my side. He ignored my attempts to resolve everything and only responded after I sent that letter saying I'd take him to court (over 7 weeks after I moved out), and even now he's making excuses saying he's in SoCal with his dying mother and won't be able to send the money till after the 1st.

If that's the case then how did he get the letter? In the letter I told him he must send it immediately or I'd take him to court, and he waited till the day before time was up to tell me that story. I assume to try to make me sympathetic, but it's just pathetic.

So if he doesn't agree to what I've laid out, which I think is very fair considering the circumstances, I'm going to hit him with everything I can to the fullest extent of the law.

[Poltracker]

Good point on how did he get the letter. I would file first thing Monday....

[dyh]

Yeah, I haven't heard back. At this point I don't even know if I want to. I've never been to court, but I feel like maybe that's the best option.

[dyh]

I'm going to add one more thing. I filed court papers and hired a process server Dec. 27 2010 since this former landlord didn't respond to my last correspondence, which was on Dec 23. I had given him till the next day, Dec 24, to respond.

On the morning of January 3rd he sent a text message wanting me to call him to resolve things. Later in the day he was served through his roommate since he wasn't home at the time, and he called me in the evening complaining about it. He was saying a lot of strange things that I didn't understand, but at the end of the conversation I mentioned how in the lease, which only I signed and have a copy of because he neglected to sign and make a copy of it although I told him to, it states that if a tenant is late on the rent there's a 3 day grace period, then there's a surcharge of $10/day late fee.

I asked him how he thought I felt now that it was over 2 months after I moved out and still hadn't received my deposit. His response was "I never signed that lease." Soon after I hung up the phone because I knew he was an idiot and the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

I posted in another forum about all this, and someone was saying in court you'd have to prove the landlord kept the deposit in "bad faith". So this would be considered bad faith right? It really is too bad it's illegal to record phone conversations without both parties knowledge in CA, otherwise I would have done so and used it in court.

[Fighter 1]

Originally Posted by dyh

I'm going to add one more thing. I filed court papers and hired a process server Dec. 27 2010 since this former landlord didn't respond to my last correspondence, which was on Dec 23. I had given him till the next day, Dec 24, to respond.

On the morning of January 3rd he sent a text message wanting me to call him to resolve things. Later in the day he was served through his roommate since he wasn't home at the time, and he called me in the evening complaining about it. He was saying a lot of strange things that I didn't understand, but at the end of the conversation I mentioned how in the lease, which only I signed and have a copy of because he neglected to sign and make a copy of it although I told him to, it states that if a tenant is late on the rent there's a 3 day grace period, then there's a surcharge of $10/day late fee.

I asked him how he thought I felt now that it was over 2 months after I moved out and still hadn't received my deposit. His response was "I never signed that lease." Soon after I hung up the phone because I knew he was an idiot and the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

I posted in another forum about all this, and someone was saying in court you'd have to prove the landlord kept the deposit in "bad faith". So this would be considered bad faith right? It really is too bad it's illegal to record phone conversations without both parties knowledge in CA, otherwise I would have done so and used it in court.

Ca Real Estate law states on termination of the rental contract the land lord has 21 days to return the deposit plain and simple , take him to court > You have demanded the return , he has not complied and thats all you need to do next the judge will just check to see if he had the demand made to him and did he comply with the law . Which in this case its clear he has not. End of story deposit money return without any extra.

[dyh]

Ok, thanks for the comment. I imagine I will also at least get my court costs refunded to me.