Renter's Rights - Deposit (apartment, tenant, landlords)

[k2o]

Hi,
Please give me some advice.

I moved out my apartment over 2 months ago. Gave my landlord 30days notice. After moved out, I talked him on the phone. He said he'll send deposit back soon, but since then I didn’t hear from him. I filed this to small court. Finally he called me, and asked me to fix gas line extension whichi I did for laundry dryer. (I got approval from him at that time.)
He said he was told by gas company that it was illegal, and unless fix that, he couldn't have new tenant. And that is a reason of holding my deposit. I don’t think inspection really came over. Even if this was true, he supposed to return my deposit and could have explain me much earlier. I’m still thinking to bring this court though, am I responsible for the repair even 2 months passed?

[CALGUY]

This landlord has a screw missing.
It was up to him to fix the problem and return your deposit within 21 days after vacating.
Here in California, the law is, if the deposit is not returned in 21 days, you can take the landlord to court, and get twice the amount of the security deposit because it was not returned in a timely manner.
He DOES have the right to keep that part of the deposit that was used for repairs that had to be done to the unit, if the damage was caused by you, but he is obligated to submit the statement, and any funds returned to you no later than 21 days.
Bob.

[k2o]

Thanks for your advice.
But I'm not sure I am responsible to fix the gas line extention before go to court.

[CALGUY]

Tell me more about this gas line extension.
Is it something you did?
Bob.

[k2o]

Yes. I did gas line extension.
Since my unit didn't have gas for dryer, with landlords approval, I asked techinisian to extend gas line from kitchin's gas stove.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Now I get it.

1: You modified the apartment by adding in a gas line that was not there when the unit was built.

2: The gas company saw the addition of the gas line and red flagged the addition meaning that they have shut down that unit for rental. Easy to do since when they see something that is not up to code that uses gas they can shut down gas to that unit.

3: Your former landlord can't rent a unit that does not have gas and is in the right here. I would venture to guess that your rental aggrement has a stipulation for making changes to the unit that you rented. Most rental agreements that I have read state that the rentor has to return the appartment back in the same condition that they rented it in.

I am amazed that anyone would have approved the addition of a gas line in open space. How far a run are we talking about? Was the dryer next to the stove?

What should have happened is you should have removed the additional gas line and capped off the line. Also in as much as the appartment did not have a dryer to begin with, what did you use for a dryer vent? I mean am I wrong to asume that the unit never had a dryer?

[k2o]

I put dryer in the kitchen and almost next to the stove.
When I asked about the vent, the landlord told me to put the hose out from the window.
I thought I should fix the gas line though, since he didn't notified me this long, I'm not sure this is my responsible...

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Now I get it.

1: You modified the apartment by adding in a gas line that was not there when the unit was built. ...

I am amazed that anyone would have approved the addition of a gas line in open space. How far a run are we talking about? Was the dryer next to the stove?

What should have happened is you should have removed the additional gas line and capped off the line. Also in as much as the appartment did not have a dryer to begin with, what did you use for a dryer vent? I mean am I wrong to asume that the unit never had a dryer?

Now I get it too. Soonie is right k2o, it's on you. The best you can do now is find somebody inexpensive to go remove the line and fix things back. If it's already done then you can hope the landlord found somebody inexpensive. It will certainly come out of your deposit, and all you can hope is that it didn't take the whole thing.

Two months past now I doubt there's much you can do, and you've probably lost your deposit. You might as well man up to realizing that you made a mistake, and I hope you've learned something from this lesson.

[Troof]

I believe that if the landlord did in fact have "someone else" fix the gas line capping, he owes K2O a documented receipt detailing the costs incurred... see pages 50 - 65ish of the handbook:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...k/catenant.pdf

[k2o]

Thanks to your replys.
I'll call the technician to fix gas.
But I still beleive I can bring this court. Without any explanation, landlord couldn't have hold deposit for 2months.