Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

My prior landlord took longer than the mandated 21 days to send me my itemized list of deductions from my security deposit. I moved out on 7/30, the notice from the landlord was dated 8/25. On 8/26 the landlord sold the property. My account was sold into collections when the property was sold and the landlord refuses to discuss the details of my account. My question is can I use the above facts to take the old landlord to small claims court, have the charges against me dismissed, and get a refund of my deposit? Does it matter if there is any validity to the charges being levied against me? Does this constitute "bad faith" on their part?


Asked on 9/23/10, 1:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Whatever the old landlord did is attributed to the new one. Since you did not get a timely notification of the deductions from your security deposit, no deductions are permitted. I assume that that would mean you do not owe the landlord anything. So there is nothing that can be sold into collections. While the collection agency will refuse to discuss the lack of any valid debt with you and will say you must prove you do not owe anything, they actually have the duty since they are seeking something from you. Inform them that you do not want to have any phone calls from them. When you sue in Small Claims Court, name the old landlord and the latest collection agency and argue there is bad faith because they knew you owed nothing but still hounded you; you should have a very good shot at winning the bad faith argument.

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Answered on 10/10/10, 4:18 am


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