Breaking lease in California, how to get security deposit back? (tenants, renter)

[youkillmymind]

As Enkiktd mentioned, I'm starting to figure this is a pretty standard "penalty" -- a one month forfeiture of rent -- even though its not legal and against what the lease says. The question is if your landlord doesn't want to give the money up, how far will they go to stop you? I've never broken a lease before or sued anyone so I don't really know.

[STT Resident]

Originally Posted by youkillmymind

Dude, I looked at the link, and it doesn't deal specifically with breaking a lease.

Don't "dude" me, you impertinent young man. It was suggested you both read your lease and read the link provided and if you actually did that and didn't understand something you could have returned to the forum and politely said so.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by youkillmymind

I'm breaking my lease 2 months early, and my landlord wants to hold on to the entire security deposit (equal to one month's rent), to pay for advertising, cleaning, and painting the unit. Now, of course this is mostly B.S. because they would have had to do this anyways in 2 months.

They want to do this whether or not the unit is rented out right after I leave or not, and whether or not the place is clean.

Is this legal? And is there anything I can do about it?

Is this a joke question and BS thread?

You break the lease so you are responsible for the remainder of the lease or until the place is rented again...if the Ll is giving you a way out than you are lucky, or perhaps it was mentioned in your lease...

[fraydnerv]

Originally Posted by youkillmymind

I'm breaking my lease 2 months early, and my landlord wants to hold on to the entire security deposit (equal to one month's rent), to pay for advertising, cleaning, and painting the unit. Now, of course this is mostly B.S. because they would have had to do this anyways in 2 months.

They want to do this whether or not the unit is rented out right after I leave or not, and whether or not the place is clean.

Is this legal? And is there anything I can do about it?

DUDETTE!!
Your security deposit is NOT rent. You are breaking your lease. Whether or not the unit is rented the day after you leave has nothing to do with your security. And you don't know if the LL is handling your security properly or not because you haven't left yet. Stop making assumptions, and deal with laws & facts. Like the fact that you can be taken to court for the rent you will owe if you break the lease.

[speeddy1]

The judge would not grant you the money. They'd end the case in 1 minute and you'd have court costs to pay. Why? Because you are leaving short of your lease. The LL could charge you for the 2 months even if you don't live there.

In most leases it states that if you leave early you forfeit your deposit and that they can choose to charge you for each remaining month on your lease. It sucks, but that's how it is. There's nothing you can do about it. It IS legal.

[Enkiktd]

Well regardless of the fighting going on in this thread, I've always found the site below helpful. Helped me to sue one of my previous landlords who didn't return a security deposit on time and refused to communicate with me.

California Tenant Law - Free legal advice for California renters

But as I said, the landlord just keeping your security deposit (assuming it's equal or less than one month's rent) is preferable to them asking for a penalty of 1 month and then deducting for bogus cleaning and repairs from your security deposit, too.

[Enkiktd]

Originally Posted by speeddy1

The judge would not grant you the money. They'd end the case in 1 minute and you'd have court costs to pay. Why? Because you are leaving short of your lease. The LL could charge you for the 2 months even if you don't live there.

In most leases it states that if you leave early you forfeit your deposit and that they can choose to charge you for each remaining month on your lease. It sucks, but that's how it is. There's nothing you can do about it. It IS legal.

Well, in the case where I sued my landlord, I was breaking my lease early. My lease stipulated a 1 month's penalty for breaking the lease. My other option, though not listed on the lease but available to me by law, was to continue paying rent until the landlord found another person to rent the unit. The 1 month's penalty was available so that if you weren't in a betting mood to see if they found a new tenant in a month or not, you could be off the hook for a whole month's rent. This is what I opted for.

The security deposit then went through its normal procedure, as it's supposed to. The landlord had 21 days to send me either an invoice or the security deposit remainder with a list of what he had repaired and what he charged for them. In my case, the landlord didn't send either in the 21 day time limit. From here there's a process you need to follow and document all your communications with the landlord. First I simply sent a letter alerting them that they didn't send me back my deposit or an invoice within the allotted time and simply asked for the return of the full deposit as due to me by law. They called me on the phone and said no way. I sent a second letter after that, asking for the full amount again, letting them know that their call saying "no" was not sufficient and that I would take them to court if they didn't send it to me this time. Once again they called and said "see you in court."

I applied for the court date, went in. I brought photos that showed that I left the unit clean and in a better state than which I received it, and all the letters I sent to the landlord. The fact that I broke my lease early had nothing to do with anything...it's simply a matter of returning the deposit in the correct manner. He didn't, so I took him to court.

Judge awarded me 3x my security deposit because the landlord didn't cooperate with my reasonable communications. After that, the landlord refused to pay and ignored all communications from me again. I sent several documented letters again, asking for payment of the judgment. Ignored again.

Then I filed paperwork that would allow the sheriff to take the money for me. The sheriff went into the landlord's bank account and took out the money, and mailed it to me for a fee.

Pain in the @$^, but for me it's the principle of the thing. I broke my lease early, paid a lease break fee equal to one month's rent (they rented out the unit immediately), and cleaned the unit back to the condition I received it in or better. There's no need to be a crook and keep my security deposit just because.

[mathjak107]

a word of caution: what we all think may not be the way the courts or attorneys who specialize in such matters see things.


there are techniques for slipping out of residential leases but they are state specific and i know nothing about california law so you have to do your own research .

but here in new york we have" surrender and control " which are loop holes in ny operation of law which allow an out of most leases if the landlord or managing agent are not familiar with them and most are not. most attorneys who specialize in real estate law are well aware of these ploys but most laymen are not.

you might want to go through your real property laws as they pertain to surrender and control.


as an example my ex wife wanted to break a lease with more than a year left. a skilled real estate attorney advised her to send a registered letter a few months before with instructions . she would tell them on such and such a date she would be surrendering her keys , moving and gave instructions for returning her deposit.

as expected the mgmt office staff just filed it away.

well the day came, she dropped off the keys. the clerk accepted them and 3 months later she gets a bill for the down time between rentals.

well little did they know they already unknowingly accepted my ex-wifes terms of surrender by not saying no your not. they got a quick lesson about the " surrender" part of operational law here when they spoke to their attorneys and found out they blew it. the word surrender in ny law has very powerful implications.


they also got a lesson in the "control " part.

2 days after she moved out they went into the apartment and started fixing and painting so they could re-rent it.

bad move. by going in on their own behalf and taking control of the apartment they let her off the lease unknowingly too. they cant claim its her apartment and they are holding her to the lease while going in and taking control of her apartment to rent it on their behalf.

they are supposed to get a written authorization from the tenant agreeing to help mitigate the damages and try to rent the apartment on the tenants behalf not their own. .

since they went right in and took control they made a 2nd tactical error in regard to holding her to the lease..

the landlord cant have it both ways,he cant still claim its your apartment and yet go in on his own and take control.

its laws and loopholes like this that make having a good attorney on your side a worthwile investment. im sure every state must have their own versions of these hidden loop holes not known to the general public.. it shows you why its not a good idea to seek advice on internet forums as folks only know what they know or believe to be true.

ill bet if i asked the same question in the new york forum i bet i would have a huge amount of replies saying my ex-wife was stuck and responsible until the apartment was re-rented and there is no way she wouldnt be responsible.. well case in point!

[mathjak107]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Is this a joke question and BS thread?

You break the lease so you are responsible for the remainder of the lease or until the place is rented again...if the Ll is giving you a way out than you are lucky, or perhaps it was mentioned in your lease...

as you see this may not hold true...... no one not familiar with the inner workings of the states laws can really answer this question. usually thats a real estate law specialists. most general practioners may not have enough inner detail to even know about the loop holes that exist. my sons an attorney and he was amazed at the way the real estate attorney here got his mom off the hook..

[bentlebee]

Since when is the sheriff allowed to take money out of anybody's bank account...that a new one to me? I thought it would take a court order and a bank to do it not a sheriff....

Originally Posted by Enkiktd

Well, in the case where I sued my landlord, I was breaking my lease early. My lease stipulated a 1 month's penalty for breaking the lease. My other option, though not listed on the lease but available to me by law, was to continue paying rent until the landlord found another person to rent the unit. The 1 month's penalty was available so that if you weren't in a betting mood to see if they found a new tenant in a month or not, you could be off the hook for a whole month's rent. This is what I opted for.

The security deposit then went through its normal procedure, as it's supposed to. The landlord had 21 days to send me either an invoice or the security deposit remainder with a list of what he had repaired and what he charged for them. In my case, the landlord didn't send either in the 21 day time limit. From here there's a process you need to follow and document all your communications with the landlord. First I simply sent a letter alerting them that they didn't send me back my deposit or an invoice within the allotted time and simply asked for the return of the full deposit as due to me by law. They called me on the phone and said no way. I sent a second letter after that, asking for the full amount again, letting them know that their call saying "no" was not sufficient and that I would take them to court if they didn't send it to me this time. Once again they called and said "see you in court."

I applied for the court date, went in. I brought photos that showed that I left the unit clean and in a better state than which I received it, and all the letters I sent to the landlord. The fact that I broke my lease early had nothing to do with anything...it's simply a matter of returning the deposit in the correct manner. He didn't, so I took him to court.

Judge awarded me 3x my security deposit because the landlord didn't cooperate with my reasonable communications. After that, the landlord refused to pay and ignored all communications from me again. I sent several documented letters again, asking for payment of the judgment. Ignored again.

Then I filed paperwork that would allow the sheriff to take the money for me. The sheriff went into the landlord's bank account and took out the money, and mailed it to me for a fee.

Pain in the @$^, but for me it's the principle of the thing. I broke my lease early, paid a lease break fee equal to one month's rent (they rented out the unit immediately), and cleaned the unit back to the condition I received it in or better. There's no need to be a crook and keep my security deposit just because.