Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
March 09 we signed a 1 years lease & paid a deposit of $1975.00. The property had acreage and the weeds were 3-4 ft tall. The property manager said she would get someone in to cut them down. We needed to move right away, after 2 days we told her we had someone that could do it. She said fine do it and we will reimburse you. We paid to have it done $500.00. She came for move in inspection and was given the receipt. The lease specified reimbursements would take 30-45 days. At approximately 47 days I called and asked about it. I was told it was in the mail. At that point we were having issues with a neighbor and the local code enforcement. We were taking care of the issues. When I tried to call the PM she would not answer the phone. When I finally did reach her she said they were holding the money because they did not know if they were going to have to start legal action. We took care of the issues with CE and they closed the case. When we would try to call the PM about things that needed fixed she would not take our calls or answer our messages. We continued to get harassed by CE, a neighbor continued to complain. It was terrible, we started looking for a place to move to.
In Aug 09 we found a different place, which was available immediately. When we attempted to call the office of the PM the office number was disconnected. We left a message on her cell phone that we wanted to come to an amicable agreement for us to move. No return call. The company is a franchise so we talked to another office about moving. A week later we were ready for a move out inspection. We tried to call our PM no answer we called another office, later that day our PM called back we set up a time in 2 days. We showed up and she never did. We called the franchise office they did not know where she was but we could give the keys to them.We went to that office turned the keys in. That was in Sept 11.
Questions: By the PM not reimbursing us per the lease, does that break the lease on her part?
By her not showing up for move out inspection are were entitled to our deposit back & the money paid for the work we had done? If additional information is needed please contact me. Is small claims the way to go? Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
By itself, failure to reimburse might not be sufficient to cause a breach but taking into account all the subsequent behavior a breach did occur. basically the PM acted as though there was no contract and need to respond to your inquiries. Failure to provide a list of deductions and return the balance of the deposit within 21 days after you had turned in the keys and removed yourself from the property waives any claims by the landlord against the deposit.
Contact the actual owner of the property, tell them of the disapparence of the PM, who as their agent makes them fully responsible for her misdeeds [they might be able to go after the franchise owner] and you want the $500 and deposit back within 5 business days. Not showing up for the inspection does not breach the lease, it merely reduces the landlord's ability to argue that abnormal wear and tear exist.
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