security deposit dispute with landlord- forcing partial refund by certified mail (San Jose: leases, eviction)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by kuppaiforme

Thanks all for the advice. Thank you so much NoMoreSnowForMe! I went to the nearest fairhousing office and they recommended the same as what you suggested. So we are not cashing the check she sent and will sue her for the full amount, plus punitive damages. Also, we recently found out that she did the same thing for the previous tenant ($3000!!!) and some of the charges we have are exactly the same as previous tenant. They are planning to sue her as well. I will post updates on how it turns out.

Thanks again everyone!

I love this! I love that you found the other tenant. The previous tenant can even be a witness for your case, testifying that the landlord has done this before, and regarding the condition of the unit. Beautiful.

My daughter and I have a saying regarding people like your landlord "Let me be their consequence." They've been getting away with murder, and the cosmos have aligned to provide a consequence - you.

Go get her!

[Nell Plotts]

So funny to have the both of you suing the landlord!! Good work.

[dburbs1975]

I love this thread and I am resurrecting to ask a question to the experienced people here.

Is a landlord allowed to charge a tenant 50% of a repair bill? the place we are renting has plumbing problems, and the landlord recently said that if we need a plumber out again he will charge us 50% of the bill. the most recent plumber we have had out told us there was grease in the drains. this was likely left by a prior tenant or the owners who used to live here. We don't cook with grease, and we are not stupid enough to pour grease down the drains.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by dburbs1975

I love this thread and I am resurrecting to ask a question to the experienced people here.

Is a landlord allowed to charge a tenant 50% of a repair bill? the place we are renting has plumbing problems, and the landlord recently said that if we need a plumber out again he will charge us 50% of the bill. the most recent plumber we have had out told us there was grease in the drains. this was likely left by a prior tenant or the owners who used to live here. We don't cook with grease, and we are not stupid enough to pour grease down the drains.

The LL can charge you for damage you do. Otherwise, he's responsible for you to have working plumbing, which is required to make the place "habitable."

What's happening? Pipes backing up? Are you putting anything down the drains? Flushing things down the toilet? Those "flushable" wipes clog pipes up horribly. It's so stupid that they advertise them as "flushable." That was the number one thing that caused plumbing backups in the bldg I managed in Santa Clara.

It would seem odd for the pipes to continually back up, if you're not doing anything to cause it. Unless there are tree roots in the pipes or something like that, or if you have an upstairs neighbor who is causing the problem.

But, if you are 100% sure you have never put anything down the drain or toilet other than water and non-greasy liquids and plain toilet paper, then you would be in the right to argue that it's the LL's responsibility to make sure you have working plumbing, and you will not be paying the bill unless he can prove you caused the problem, and that the last plumber said it's grease buildup from previous tenants, and you don't put grease down the drain.

For your reference, and if you want to print it out for the landlord, here's an article regarding habitability by the CA Dept of Consumer Affairs:

California Tenants - California Department of Consumer Affairs

[jk88cal]

Originally Posted by dburbs1975

I love this thread and I am resurrecting to ask a question to the experienced people here.

Is a landlord allowed to charge a tenant 50% of a repair bill? the place we are renting has plumbing problems, and the landlord recently said that if we need a plumber out again he will charge us 50% of the bill. the most recent plumber we have had out told us there was grease in the drains. this was likely left by a prior tenant or the owners who used to live here. We don't cook with grease, and we are not stupid enough to pour grease down the drains.

Here is my assumption. Plumber came out, determined there was grease in the drains, and cleaned out the grease. This old grease could have being cause by anyone, i.e. previous tenant(s). So the landlord paid for the bill.

If the drain is clogged again and it is cause by grease, then tenant is the culprit. I can imagine landlord paying for the bill couple times. And if this same problem repeats, then landlord can and should charge tenant for plumbing cost.

Landlord should not have said any all plumbing work will cost you 50%, because there can be other problems not caused by the tenant. It should be based on the finding.

[moon2]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Those "flushable" wipes clog pipes up horribly. It's so stupid that they advertise them as "flushable." That was the number one thing that caused plumbing backups in the bldg I managed in Santa Clara.

Thank you! I had no idea - seriously. Googled just now and municipalities complain about them, so it's beyond our own pipes. Used to be on a septic system and treated it gingerly, never putting anything down, not putting in a garbage disposal, zero grease, no bleach, etc - then when I got on sewer I thought woo-hoo!

No more flushing the flushable wipes now.

Thanks for the education.

[Ultrarunner]

Flushables are the best thing to ever happen for plumbers... really.

My plumber said he would not have been able to expand without flushables.

As for pipes blockage... I will pay for one at my expense and use it as a teachable moment.

Of course roots are never a tenant responsibility.

Tenants have insisted nothing they could have done caused the problem and they have always been wrong...

Kids toys, pet toys, somthing as simple as a q-tip can cause havoc and then there is GREASE...

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Yeah, I think the flushables must have been invented by a plumber. Definitely a conspiracy.

And cigarette butts! So many things that people don't expect to cause problems. Cigarette butts don't dissolve quickly, so if you get one turned sideways, then another one gets stuck next to that one, next thing you know, major blockage of cigarette butts.

Finding these is always enlightening, when the building is non-smoking, too. Busted!

[ggcd951]

Originally Posted by kuppaiforme

Hi,

My landlord deducted close to $1000 from security deposit. We returned the house is good clean condition and used a professional cleaner to clean the house. She didn't send receipts for many of the charges. When we sent a demand letter, she sent a partial refund of $350 by certified mail even though we did not agree to that amount. I believe she thinks I'm forced to accept the refund if she sent it by certified mail which she can use in the court to prove that I accepted it. We have decided to go ahead and sue her in small claims court. The question is should I accept the certified mail and sue her for the rest of the amount or not accept the certified mail and sue for the entire amount? One the charges she refunded by certified mail is pretty serious. She altered the receipt from a vendor and used that to charge us more. She doesn't want us to use that in the court. That's why she sent it by certified mail. Please advice.

Thanks.

I had similar experience from shoddy apartment management in the past. There are couple of things you can do. Find the company and file a bbb complaint. It worked magic one time for me.

Another time with dispute, I went after the owner of the apartment complex. Not the management company and certainly not the apartment itself. Find the owner company of the apartment complex as well as its legal address and file a bbb. Lot of time, apartment owner company hides themselves as much as they can. I believe you can find this informatoin from tax county office, (in my case that is what I did but that was in TX).

Good luck!

[dburbs1975]

thanks all.

we don't have any flushable wipes, only roll style toilet paper.

there is a disposer in the sink and we do use it, but not since the third clog. we never never never put grease down the drains, but the entire kitchen was covered in a disgusting greasy film when we rented the place out. It took a week to clean it down. the landlord also has a self cleaning hood, which I have never seen before, and a professional range with a wok ring. again, not our culture, we do not use it. So, it is clear where the grease came from, but not from us.

incidentally after this went down he gave instructions on cleaning the hood by pouring some cleaning fluid into it and we did the self cleaning hood cycle. Guess what came out...

Grease.