Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Landlords ''property'' / deposit refund time limit
I recently vacated a home where I lived for 7 years. During that time I purchased, planted and cared for numerous plants and trees at my own expense. When I moved I dug up many of these to transplant at my new home. My landlord contends that they were now his property and is withholding my security deposit of $350. Is this legal? Also, is there a time frame in which a deposit must be returned? Is my only alternative to go to small claims court?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Landlords ''property'' / deposit refund time limit
With some exceptions, anything a tenant attaches to real property becomes part of the property. There are cases where lessees of land have put substantial buildings on their leases and lost them to the landowner when their leases expired.
The most important exceptions are so-called trade fixtures. If a barber installs a barber chair in a rented store for plying his trade, he can remove it just prior to the end of the lease and take it with him. However, on the day after the lease ends he loses the right to remove his trade fixtures.
If you plant trees and perennials on rented property, they become fixtures when planted and cannot be removed. They are part of the realty and belong to its owner. Unless you rented the property as a nursery, there is no argument that the trees and plants are trade fixtures. I do not know of any other exception. The landlord is correct.
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