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Hello I am hoping you good people can steer me in the right direction on this problem I am having. I am in Sacramento, CA.
My wife and I left a rental after just over 2 years with a 30 day notice. We requested a pre-inspection walkthrough and the landlord came with a property mgmt agent that she was having take over the duties for any new tenants and act as her agent in closing out with us. At the end of the pre-inspection we were told juts make sure to clean the oven and leave the house clean and they see no reason to keep any of our deposit. We were given no paperwork or anything in writing to this effect. Feeling like we had a fairly honest landlord, we left it at that.
When we received the deposit check and statement, it had several problems: The landlord wrote the amount of the deposit was $1500 when in fact it was 1550, we were charged for a water bill which my wife had already paid and $220 for "Partial cost (1/3) for painting touchup in hallway, bedrooms and living room." These areas were not damaged and most certainly fell under normal wear and tear.
I wrote the landlord (she doesn't speak english well) and demanded a return on these items. We received a check for the water and additional deposit. A day later a second check arrived for the first portion of the deposit this time by certified mail. We didn't cash it since we had deposited the first. We texted her about receiving the duplicate with no response. Surprise surprise she stopped payment on the first one which bounced in our bank.
Now she will not return the bounced check fee to us stating it cost her more to stop payment and sending a new one certified mail since she thought the first one was lost in the mail.
From what I understand she has violated several laws here.
My question is- Is it proper and legal to charge partial cost for touch up paint? It is not in our rental contract. If it were damage beyond normal wear and tear I don't think she would assume 2/3 of the share of cost!
What about the deposit check bouncing? Is that considered having not returned our deposit within the 21 days? Is this a case of "bad faith"? Please advise and thank you for your time.
It sounds to me like the bounced check was more a case of a language barrier problem than bad faith. However, she shouldn't have been able to stop payment if you'd already deposited the check, unless it all happened the same day. Does that mean she broke the law? Maybe. Should she pay you for the bounced check? Maybe. If you waited a long time to deposit the check, it would have been a reasonable assumption that you didn't receive it. It also depends on what your letter to her said, exactly.
As for the painting, without seeing it, there is no way to say if $220 is fair for touchup. If you hung pictures in those areas and your lease said you couldn't, they can charge for touchup. I've had tenants tell me that screw holes from hanging curtains, shelves, tvs, etc are normal wear and tear, which they aren't. I've had tenants tell me smoke on the walls was normal and just needed to be washed, not painted. I've had tenants tell me crayons on the wall was normal wear and tear. My point is, everyone's definition of "normal" is different, so without seeing it, we can't say. If there really wasn't anything, including nail holes (unless allowed in your lease) then no, she can't charge just to repaint.
The water bill could have been a case of her (or the water company, depending) not having received your wife's payment yet when the deposit refund went out. That happens sometimes. But she refunded that, so that is a moot point now.
The bank will cash what the words say, not the figure, for example - if a check says $200 and the written words say "Two hundred fifty and 00/100 dollars",, the bank would cash it for $250 because that is what is spelled out.
California has a horrendous law regarding bounced checks including triple damages. Check it out.
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