Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Landlord Tenant dispute

First, I hope you got a release in writing from the landlord, indicating that they were accepting your early termination of the lease. If you did not, its going to be a fight over who said what. Irrespective, the landlord has an absolute obligation - even if they are taking the position that you terminated the lease early without their permission - to provide you with your security deposit, or a written accounting of the use of your security deposit plus return of any remaining funds (if any) within 21 days of the date you surrendered the property to the landlord. If they have failed to do so, and you can prove it was done in bad faith, then you may be entitled to recover not just your security deposit but an additional amount equal to your security deposit for their actions in withholding the deposit. Send a letter demanding the return of your full security deposit, with a "drop dead" date of about 5 days. When they fail to return the deposit, sue them in Small Claims Court. If they send you can accounting stating that the deposit was used for anything, I'd still take them to court and demand repayment for their failure to comply with the statute. Good luck.

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