Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: break lease payment bounced

you will win. once the two of you agreed it was a binding contract.

Re: break lease payment bounced

Make sure that you carefully read the terms and conditions of the lease agreement before taking any action. You may be subject to mandatory arbitration or you may be able to recover attorneys fees (should you elect to have an attorney represent you if you elected a forum other than the small claims court). Based upon your facts, you entered into an oral agreement to cancel your valid lease agreement. You agreed to accept $1,000 in exchange for your willingness to cancel the lease and locate another place to live. You have, among other possible claims, an action against the lessor for a breach of oral contract.

In California, oral contracts have a two (2) year statute of limitations from the date that you become aware of the breach. I presume the date to begin the statute of limitations period would be the date you discovered that the check bounced. You should also consider first writing a formal demand letter stating what the agreement was between the two of you, the amount agreed upon, what happened regarding the bounced check, and what it is (i.e. $1,000 cash or money order) by what date? (usually 7-10 days is good enough). Inform him that you intend to take the action to small claims court if he does not pay you in full by that date.

Finally, check with the Small Claims Advisory Clinic in your county (if there is any in your county). They will be very helpful as well. Best of luck!

Re: break lease payment bounced

Under California Civil Code 1719, one who writes a bad check could be liable for treble damages, up to a maximum of $1500.

In your case, you say that the landlord stopped payment on the check. This could protect him from treble damages if the stop payment was made based upon a good faith dispute.

You need to send the landlord a CERTIFIED letter, return receipt requested informing him that you are demanding payment of the check, the bank fees and the mailing costs, and that if you do not have payment in 30 days, you will proceed with a small claims action.

If he pays the check, fees and mailing within the 30 days, you are done. If you need to go to court, you can ask for the $1000 face amount of the check plus $1500 in additional damages if you can show that there was no good faith dispute.

Good luck.