Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

If it were me, I would go fight this. I assume at this point you have received the accounting from them, and it was depleated by the painting cost? Send a letter demanding that they refund your security deposit, as it is being improperly withheld. If they do not (which they won't), take them to small claims court. The whole point of the walk-through is to set the damages they will claim against your security deposit. They can (obviously) also deduct for damages which occur after the walk-through, but before you move out, but that's clearly not the case here. If they cannot prove the damages, then they might lose at trial. Good luck!

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