Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

My landlord is attempting to charge me an extra 1800 dollars for landscaping of the lawn after we moved out. He kept my full security deposit and will not send me an official itemized invoice of charges. The one he sent only states poorly written "services" and a total in a grammar and spelling error filled word document for the lawn. It looks like he wrote it himself. He also never gave us the opportunity to fix it before we moved out. He is taking us to small claims court. Does he have a case for the extra 1800?


Asked on 11/14/14, 6:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
R. Grace Rodriguez Law Offices of R. Grace Rodriguez

The State of California publishes an excellent online article on Security Deposits.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/sec-deposit.shtml

Your landlord could have a case IF your rental agreement stated that you were going to be responsible for watering the lawn and maintaining it. IF it was a great lawn when you moved in and you failed to maintain it, he could have a case against you.

IF you only rented the house, and there is nothing in your rental agreement about the lawn and you went out and trashed the lawn you could be responsible for your conduct in fixing the lawn.

But if there is nothing in the agreement and you did nothing to the lawn, you are not likely going to be responsible for the lawn.

I suggest you read California's website on Security deposits, and do a counterclaim against him for illegally withholding your security deposit without making the proper pre-move out inspection, if in fact you requested one before you moved.

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Answered on 11/15/14, 7:43 am


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