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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?
You're breaking the lease, the LL is now out rent for those 2 months. Legally, you still owe him those 2 months of rent. I think you are lucky that he will just accept the security deposit and not sue you for the rest.
However, the previous poster is correct in that you do still owe the months remaining on your lease agreement. This should also be addressed in the information cited above.
I live in California and have had to break a few leases early. Most places (larger apartment buildings) will charge a penalty equivalent to one month's rent and then on top of that they'll go through your apartment and deduct for any cleaning and repairs (usually in my case bogus charges, but that's the way of renting). Depending on how you're leaving the unit, you could be getting a good or a bad deal.
The shaky part of what you said was 'whether or not they rent it out right after I leave.' In these kinds of situations they're obligated to make an effort to re-rent it out and mitigate their losses.
Check your lease and see if there's any specific clauses for lease breaking.
I had assumed that if I was able to find someone to re-rent it right after I left, and cleaned it up really well, I could conceivably get the entire security deposit back. But they're being kind of shady about it. Is it true that even if I sued the judge would allow them a month's rent anyways?
I had assumed that if I was able to find someone to re-rent it right after I left, and cleaned it up really well, I could conceivably get the entire security deposit back. But they're being kind of shady about it. Is it true that even if I sued the judge would allow them a month's rent anyways?
You can't make those kinds of assumptions. Your lease is a contract which you're obligated to perform. And a tenant's "clean" isn't necessarily a landlord's "clean", usually far from it in fact! Your LL is under no legal obligation to accept a tenant you might find to fill your spot. Read the link provided and you'll see that where the security deposit is concerned, your LL has 21 days in which to return it to you less itemized deductions.
You seriously need to read the terms of your lease agreement and read your state landlord tenant laws before assuming anything. And in future, never sign a lease (or any other contract), the terms of which you don't fully understand.
I had assumed that if I was able to find someone to re-rent it right after I left, and cleaned it up really well, I could conceivably get the entire security deposit back. But they're being kind of shady about it. Is it true that even if I sued the judge would allow them a month's rent anyways?
Yes, even if you help find an acceptable tenant, and clean it sufficiently, you could still owe the landlord for the inconvenience and costs of advertising early and any other damages you are responsible for, including rent that your lease obligated you to pay, which was not covered by the next tenant. The judge could allow them more then only one months rent "anyways". You broke your lease!
Haha that's true, maybe I should consider myself lucky that I'm only losing the security deposit, a lot of landlords would manage to take that on cleaning fees anyways, even though the place was a mess when I moved in (If I only hadn't cleaned the place already...)
I think my problem with this is that the landlord is just taking the entire amount instead of deducting cleaning fees, advertising fees (if thats allowed in CA), and uncovered rent, because with the rental market here and the price of the unit I'm sure we could have found someone suitable fairly quickly.
I think my problem with this is that the landlord is just taking the entire amount instead of deducting cleaning fees, advertising fees (if thats allowed in CA), and uncovered rent, because with the rental market here and the price of the unit I'm sure we could have found someone suitable fairly quickly.
If you would just read what's been linked and what your lease says you will easily find the answers. Your LL is required by law to conform to procedures in returning your security deposit.
The horse has been led to water but doesn't seem to want to drink!
Dude, I looked at the link, and it doesn't deal specifically with breaking a lease.
I know the way the landlord is treating the security deposit is improper, but my question is do I have any practical, legal recourse? Is it worth my time to try to get some or all of it back?
If a judge just says "well your landlord was wrong but you owe them just as much money for this other reason" its not worth it!
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