Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
They are lying to keep our deposit
My two youngest children and I moved into a one bedroom apartment in august of 2005--in Septeber of 2005 my olderst son (who was living with his dad) called to tell me that his dad had kicked him out of the house-I went and got him. understandably(since you cannot have more than 3 people living in a 1 bd apartment) we were evicited.I told the manager what had happened and told her that we would comply with there demands immediately. She gave us a 30 day notice and we cleaned the place better than the condition it was in when we first moved in which was only 2 months prior.I asked her(the manager) to come take a look at the place before we left(my mom and the next door neighbor was there to)because I desperetly needed the deposit money back to move into another place. She said that she knew we had been working for the past 3 days and that the place looked great. note(before we moved in we noticed that she and her husband were the ones who cleaned and..for the next tenant)anyway--she said that our deposit would be mailed to us when it came it had us oweing them 300 dollars--she had charged us for 6 extra days (she took that off)and lied about the condition of the apartment--all lies--i have witnesses-i want my deposit money
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: They are lying to keep our deposit
Sue the management company and the owner of the complex in Small Claims court. It's a gamble, but the Small Claims courts are typically weighted in favor of tenants. You likely owe rent up through the 30th day (per the 30 day notice). And you owe money for damages due to unreasonable wear and tear. Typically, you also owe for a reasonable cleaning fee. (Of course, the terms of the rental agreement may change this as well.) I hope that you took pictures of the place when you left. Bring these to the Small Claims hearing and plead your case to the judge.
You will have to sue the defendants in the judicial district where they are located. For information about how to file the Small Claims case and get the claim served, call the courthouse nearest where you used to live. The clerk cannot give you legal advice but he/she will likely be able to lead you in the right direction.
Re: They are lying to keep our deposit
From the information submitted, you should aggressively stand up for your rights, as it appears the landlords are trying to "pull a fast one" period. You need to start be sending them a legal demand letter giving them the option to settle the matter out of court, but not by making extortion type threats. If this does not work, then you should promptly file a small claims court action against them if you have not received a reply to your demand letter after 10 days. If you would like complete, affordable assistance with one or both parts here, contact us directly. The small claims courthouse can only give you general guidelines, but cannot offer legal advice or assistance to anyone.
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