Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

1. What are considered reasonable late fees for for a 1500 dollar rent? we we were paying 10 dollars per day. He was accepting partial payments but kept accruing late fees.

We lived there 5 years 9 months and 4 days

We vacated and did a walk through of the property on 10/4/2010, We supplied him with forwarding addresses and our phone numbers as well contact numbers for relatives.

He presented us a unsigned estimate from a contractor for $6751.63 on 2/15/11 Which included charges for paint and carpet removal. Some of the the items on the estimate seemed over priced.

Is it legal for for him to withhold our deposit without explanation for 4 and 1/2 months and then present us with a damage report after we did a walk through and were given an all clear?

Is it proper for him file an unlawful detainer while accepting partial payments after serving us a three day pay or quit.

He is now threatening to sue us for damages, back rent and legal fees.

It is my opinion that he the repair estimate is excessive and he should have presented more than 1 estimate.

I believe that we should not be be responsible for legal fees for an action that should not have been filed.

I also believe that he took to long to produce an itemized explanation of where our deposit went.


Asked on 3/04/11, 5:59 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

California law requires that within 21 days of the tenant giving up possession the landlord must refund all of the security deposit or give written detailed notice of what sums are being withheld for what reasons. Failure to comply with that time deadlines means the landlord waives their right to claim any damages against the security deposit and allows the tenant to collect twice the amount of the security deposit wrongfully withheld. Deductions can not be made for normal wear and tear damages; in general, after five years of anyone living in a unit it can be assumed that the unit needs to be entirely re-painted on the inside. Depending on how old the carpet was when you moved in, that might also be a situation that usually it would have to be replaced no matter what so you have no liability. His telling you after the walk through that everything was ok can be used to impeach his claim that it was not. If he accepted partial rent payments after the three day notice he has waived the notice and any attorney's fees stemming from the notice are not reasonable because their is no valid cause of action. Since he has a clause for attorney fees, under California law you are also give, if you should win, the reasonable attorney fees you incur [the court decides on what is a reasonable hourly rate but your attorney can charge you less and you pocket the difference]. you are entitled to a detailed explanation as to where the funds you gave him went.

You likely need an attorney to send to him a letter pointing out all of his legal mistakes and your defenses. A good, detailed letter based upon thorough knowledge of what did occur may made him back down and even pay you a token amount.

I have handled such matters before and they are not really difficult, although it can be difficult to convince a headstrong landlord of how anti-landlord the law is. I charge $100 per hour in 5 minute intervals. I am semi-retired and work out of my house without a staff, so i can charge less than a typical attorney. I can be reached at [email protected] or (510) 441-2684.

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Answered on 3/04/11, 10:05 pm


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