broke lease for studio in beverly hills before moving in (apartment, tenant)

[single mom bh needs help]

January 13 2015 I signed a 6 month lease for a studio in beverly hills, ca. I paid landlord $1545 security deposit plus $750 1/2 month prorated Jan rent (1/15/15-2/1/15). Same time I handed landlord the $2295 cashier's check, I also signed the lease. I made arrangements to pick up the keys on morning of 1/15/15 because ll said apartment was not ready so had to wait the couple of days for keys. Morning of 1/15/15 ll did not answer my texts or phone calls regarding key pick up. Afternoon of 1/15/15 I fell and broke my right shoulder into over 13 pieces. Upon leaving emergency room with broken shoulder, I immediately called new ll and explained how I broke shoulder and had to wait weeks for specialist to do my surgery cause they found malignant tumor smack in center of my shoulder joint. There was no way I could handle moving in two days with my broken shoulder. I am a single mom with a 10 year old autistic child. Ll promised he would refund my entire $2295. A couple of days later when I tried to get my money back, he ignored my phone calls and text messages. Finally, I got him on the phone, and again he promised to send me all my money back. But first he needed me to send him an email explaining the situation and why i needed the money back, and that I definitely would not be moving into his studio. I sent him the email. Still he did not refund money. Then he referred me to his sister to get money back. I called her and she said she would send full amount in a check. Days later when I finally got the check it was only for $1545 security deposit and the rent $750 would be retained by the landlord. When I challenged him for the $750 he promised to return he sends me an email telling me the $750 was a holding deposit and that in CA he was entitled to keep it. If I took this guy to small claims court for the $750 he kept that he said he would return do I have a case? I never took ownership of the studio. He dodged me when he was supposed to give me the keys. Never even gave me a copy of the signed lease. Never mentioned any holding deposit, but used that term when it was convenient for him. Is he within his rights to do this? Nothing mentioned in lease about early termination of lease fees. Doesn't my broken shoulder equal a health issue as a valid reason I had to break lease and not able to move? I don't want to waste my time with this guy in small claims if I don't have a case. The ll is a real jerk and has bad reputation in BH as being slumlord.

[ddrhazy]

Why have you waited 9 months to ask your question? Anyways. You broke the terms of the lease. It may be possible to argue that his damages were minimal to non existent because those studios in Beverley Hills rent quickly but only he would know how long that takes. If you sued him and he showed the court that the next person he was able to rent the studio to started their tenancy on 2/1/15 or after that, then he definitely has demonstrable damages and you would not be victorious in a suit against him.

People generally are like you though. They rent either in the middle of the month or at the beginning of the next month. If he rented it to a person like that, he has demonstrable damages as the hypothetical next tenant in that studio would move in on 2/1/15.

Edit - You can do a little bit of investigation. Go to the unit you were to rent, knock on the door. Ask the current tenant when they moved in. If for example they moved in on 1/16/15 then the landlord had no real damages because he mitigated them(rather quickly in this hypothetical). He could withhold some of your money but not the bulk of it. If he pro-rated the next tenant's rent from 1/16/15, he is effectively "double dipping" by taking your security and the new tenant's security. What he should do is calculate the loss in rent by a daily amount($1550/month = ~$52/day) and return to you the remainder of your security deposit after figuring in his loss of rent. In the hypothetical of him finding a tenant on 1/16/15 it would be $750 - (1 day*$52) = $698 of your deposit he should have returned.

Edit 2 - Also when you sign a lease, always get a copy and always ask for all parties involved to sign and date the contract.

[AZ Manager]

This isn't a deposit dispute it is a rent dispute, he has returned the deposit in full. Him calling it a holding deposit may weigh in your favor but only slightly, if you sue him I bet he talks to a lawyer who tells him to call it rent in court so he can keep it. It isn't worth your time or money and if you lose you could wind up paying landlord's legal fees as well as your court costs. You may want to send a demand letter stating that there was no holding deposit in your agreement and your landlord must return any money used as rent while the new tenant occupied the unit, there is likely a law that states he cannot double dip in rent. If you do that be prepared to get a bill though because legally you are liable until a new tenant is placed in the unit so if it took him til the end of March to rent it you still owe him 2 months rent.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

My opinion, you would be wasting your time. You signed the lease and broke your shoulder on the day you were to pick up keys and gave notice immediately instead of picking up the key. You can't really claim landlord withheld keys when you canceled the tenancy before he could hand them over.

At any rate, you signed the lease and didn't take possession on the day you were supposed to take possession. At the very least, you owe a 30 day notice. The landlord was generous to return all of the deposit and only charge you half a months rent instead of 30 days rent or a lease breaking fee.

The trouble with suing is that the judge might rule against you. If the landlord has to go to court, he has the option of countersuing and enforcing the terms of the lease you signed and it might possibly end up costing you more money. You take a chance when you sue especially since it doesn't appear to me that you are in the right on this one.