Wrongful withholding of security deposit (CA) (apartments, lease, tenant, square foot) - Renting -Apartments, houses, lease, tenant, landlord, agreements, termination - City-Data Forum

mzsmiley · 11-29-2014, 09:22 PM

I lived at my 400 square foot studio apartment for 4.5 years on a month-to-month lease before I gave my 30-day notice to vacate the rental. I do not smoke and I did not have any pets during my tenancy. Other than normal wear and tear from living there for almost 5 years, I kept the apartment in good condition and even cleaned the apartment before I left (vacuumed, thorough cleaning of the stove and fridge, scrubbed the toilet, bathroom sink and bathtub). When I went to pick up my mail -- and what I thought was my security deposit check -- from the onsite manager three weeks later, he even said to me, "Good job on keeping the apartment in such good shape. I think all they did was clean the carpet."

Much to my dismay, when I opened the envelope from the property management company, I found not a check, but a bill! They kept my entire $500 deposit and billed me an additional $295 for the balance to "paint, clean, and shampoo carpet." There were no invoices or receipts, nor was the statement itemized to include a description of what was done and the rate for the labor and/or materials. They stated that the painting of the studio was $495, cleaning $150, and carpet shampooing $150.

Having heard horror stories from friends about security deposit disputes, I half anticipated receiving only partial refund at the very minimum, considering I kept the apartment in relatively the same condition as when I moved in. I certainly did not expect to be billed upon my departure!

A $500 security deposit is not a lot of money, nor an amount worth fighting tooth and nail for had they simply kept the entire $500 and called it day. However, I feel unjustly ripped off being charged almost $800 to "clean, paint, and shampoo" a 400 square foot studio apartment, considering my rent was only $825/mon for the last 3 years.

Does anyone have any experience with security deposit disputes and what my possible recourse would be? Any advice or suggestions on how to best approach this with the property management company before I contact them this week?

JohnG72 · 11-29-2014, 11:29 PM

Hi, you'll have to go to small claims.

Almost for sure you will get the cost of painting back. Normally, courts in CA view that as a 2-3 year wear and tear item. May or may not get the cleaning and shampoo.

UB50 · 11-29-2014, 11:55 PM

If you have photos of how it looked when you moved in and how it looked when you moved out, it will help.

MItoBH · 11-30-2014, 07:06 AM

OP, I do feel for you. It sounds like you were a great tenant too and perhaps the landlord company is retaliating for you having the audacity to move out by nickle and diming you. I would go to small claims court. Fight this, they are going overboard over a measly studio apt.

Good luck!

mzsmiley · 11-30-2014, 02:28 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I do intend on taking them to small claims if they refuse to return my deposit in full when I call them tomorrow claiming withholding of security deposit in bad faith.

I don't have pictures of the unit prior to moving in, but I did snap a couple of pictures before I left as a momento. Had I known I was going to be blatantly ripped off, I would've taken more thorough pictures and/or video before I relinquished my keys -__-

CALGUY · 11-30-2014, 03:39 PM

A couple of things of note here.
You stated you picked up your mail three weeks later.
Wasn't the check mailed to your new address?
What was the post marked date of mailing?

If it were longer than 21 days from the day you vacated the unit, you are entitled to twice the amount of the security deposit , returned to you.

They can't charge you for painting, as that is considered normal were and tear.
Cleaning , and carpet shampoo can come out of the deposit, and they do not have to show you receipts for this.
They only have to include the cost of these items,along with any funds returned to you.

My guess would be, they inflated the cost of refurbishing the unit.
You could ask them to see receipts for the work performed, but they are not under any obligation to show them to you.

If you think you got taken, then by all means file in small claims court.
The judge will take into consideration what is fair market policy for the same work in a unit similar to the one you vacated, and will make a judgement accordingly.
That doesn't mean that a ruling will be in your favor, just a decision by the court as to what is fair.

Bob

mzsmiley · 11-30-2014, 04:09 PM

Hi Bob,

No, they did not mail the letter to my new forwarding address, even though it was specifically requested in my 30 day notice. They dated the letter 11/12, 7 days after my last day (11/5) and postmarked it 11/20 to my apartment address.

After reading up on the CA civil code section 1950.5, receipts are not required for repairs or cleaning totaling less than $125. This is $300 worth of cleaning that they are trying to charge me for in addition to $500 of paint. I think as long as I can prove the property management company withheld my entire deposit in bad faith from the get go, I'm entitled to the full deposit amount and twice the deposit amount in damages. I'll update this post with latest developments.

lvoc · 11-30-2014, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mzsmiley

Hi Bob,

No, they did not mail the letter to my new forwarding address, even though it was specifically requested my 30 day notice. They dated the letter 11/12, 7 days after my last day (11/5) and postmarked it 11/20 to my apartment address.

After reading up on the CA civil code section 1950.5, receipts are not required for repairs or cleaning totaling less than $125. This is $300 worth of cleaning that they are trying to charge me for in addition to $500 of paint. I think as long as I can prove the property management company withheld my entire deposit in bad faith from the get go, I'm entitled to the full deposit amount and twice the deposit amount in damages. I'll update this post with latest developments.

Go for it. The LL is simply betting you won't. Likely offer a settlement. You will I suspect win in Small Claims Court but I believe the damages may be up to the judge. This one is pretty outrageous though so you might get them.

timtemtym · 11-30-2014, 04:18 PM

I went through this recently and posted a thread about it! I got every dime back. You have an AMAZING amount of rights here in California. They cannot charge for paint if you lived there at least 2 years. That is the normal life cycle of paint in California according to tenants rights booklet. You also are allowed normal dirt accumulation on carpets, etc... I got my money back by writing a simple demand letter. The state of California has a demand letter generator I used. It worked!

I also included how much it would cost to file in small claims court and the time I would spend preparing and defending my case and sent them an itemized bill for that along with the blurb that they are responsible for all of that when I win my case.

Here is my thread on that... let me know if you have questions
//www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...rs-rights.html

timtemtym · 11-30-2014, 04:22 PM

Another thing, my apartments tried to tell me that they have the right to charge any amount to make the apartment readily rentable. That is not true. It sounds good, but it isn't my job to bring it back to brand new status. I had the guy walk me around and point out every area he planned to charge me for. I took pictures and got it in writing that that is what he planned to charge me for. The pictures showed that none of the "damage" was past the threshold of normal wear and tear which in California is very lenient towards the tenant.