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I have a situation where I lived in a home for 5 years, renting a room. There were no legal contracts or leased signed for this arrangement and everything was communicated through a few email correspondences and verbally. Upon moving out my old landlord has decided to retroactively charge late payments on rent for 7 incidences to be taken out of the security deposit. This late fee was never agreed upon and as there was no written contract, seems unlawful to me.
Moreover, before moving out we had requested a walk through on several occasions of which he ignored. He didn't supply us a list of damages till the 29th day after we moved out and didn't provide accompany receipts for said damages. From my understanding, california law states that the landlord must return deposit or supply a list with accompany receipts by the 21st day or he forfeits his right to the deposit.
Am I correct for thinking he's failed his responsibilities on 3 occasions?
1) making up a late fee for rent check
2) refusing to give us a walk through even after we asked him several times
3) not returning the deposit or list of damages and receipts by the 21st day of vacancy.
If you did not have a contract stating that you would be fined late fees for late payments, than you may be able to get out of those fees.
If CA law states landlords have 21 days and he did it in 29, than you can probably win that one too.
The walk through you are probably SOL. Did you request it through certified mail? If not than you can't prove you requested one. Also, if there is no contract stating you get one, than he isn't required to give one.
The ball's in your court. You can't be charged late fees in CA unless you agree to a late fee provision in your lease. Strike one. The landlord has 21 days to return the deposit or provide an accounting. Strike two. Since the landlord didn't provide your accounting in time, he has no claim to damages, so the walkthrough is irrelavant. Send him a certified letter demanding your deposit in full within 7 days because he failed to provide your accounting in time (refer to the exact CA statute in the letter to show him you mean business). Tell him if he doesn't do that, you'll be executing a small claims suit against him where he could possibly be liable for three times the deposit under CA law (again, insert exact statute here). Good luck!
It's really open and shut... the burden in CA is on the Landlord.
I've helped several with deposit issues where I work... one young lady was asked to move because the new owner was gutting the building to the studs... she moved and asked for her deposit back and at first they said they had not received a deposit from the seller and then they sent her a letter charging her for carpet and paint in a building they told her in writing was being rehabbed...
Anyway, the deposit letter arrived at day 26.
I went with her and filed a small claims action and then went to the owner's business and asked for her Deposit back...
The owner's daughter said their was no deposit to return and I told her it was a moot point solely because it took more than 21 days to contact her... SHE SAID, "SUE ME... IF SHE DOESN'T LIKE IT" I then pulled out the court papers and served her... her jaw dropped and she started cussing up a storm...
The Father came in to see what the fuss was and he said he didn't know anything about the 21 day rule... I waited while he called his lawyer and found out quick he was in the wrong... he apologized and wrote out a check for the full amount plus the filing fee...
I would say court is your next stop... although I doubt it will come to that.
In Fl. you even have to send it by the 15th day after moving out....so you don't have to do anything. It even sounds strange to charge late fees after moving out for incidents that happened before...but be aware for next time another LL can charge you late fees immediately after the late date and since you admitted it, you better change your habit.
The walk through list is easy to prevent if the LL doesn't want to do it...make pics. with a date on it and write a certified letter to the LL.
Bentlee the last place I rented in FL the landlord took like 5 weeks to return the security. Then he took out money with no break down so I called then he said it was for the carpet with stains which was written on the check list when I moved in and the oven which was not being dirty. I thought since he returned it late regardless he can't take out anything but also I had it stated on the list. Also the no items listed when he did return the rest of the money.
In Fl. you even have to send it by the 15th day after moving out....so you don't have to do anything. It even sounds strange to charge late fees after moving out for incidents that happened before...but be aware for next time another LL can charge you late fees immediately after the late date and since you admitted it, you better change your habit.
The walk through list is easy to prevent if the LL doesn't want to do it...make pics. with a date on it and write a certified letter to the LL.
The option of a walk through is also now required in CA... The Tenant can decline... however, the landlord must offer.
The landlord must give the tenant written notice of the tenant's right to request an initial inspection of the rental and to be present during the inspection. The landlord must give this notice to the tenant a "reasonable time" after either the landlord or the tenant has given the other written notice of intent to terminate (end) the tenancy
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