Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I have to be honest - there are so many things wrong in this email that I am not even sure where to start. First, let's start with the security deposit because that is an easy one, 'sort of.' California has a set of laws referred to as the Mobilehome Residency Law. They can be found at California Civil Code �798, et seq..

The applicable code section for security deposits is CC �798.39(b) which provides, in pertinent part, that: (b) As to all security deposits collected on or after January 1, 1989, after the homeowner has promptly paid to the management, within five days of the date the amount is due, all of the rent, utilities, and reasonable service charges for any 12-consecutive-month period subsequent to the collection of the security deposit by the management, or upon resale of the mobilehome, whichever occurs earlier, the management shall, upon the receipt of a written request from the homeowner, refund to the homeowner the amount of the security deposit within 30 days following the end of the 12-consecutive-month period of the prompt payment or the date of the resale of the mobilehome.

Your first problem is that if you never made demand for the security deposit before the UD judgment was entered, then they were only required to return it upon resale. The problem is that the on-site manager gave you some very bad advice. First, the lease should have been terminated when you first moved out of the home. I get the rent increase, but leaving yourself exposed for a home you no longer live in, or own was a very bad idea. Second, when the home was sold to another person, you clearly should have not agreed to remain on the lease. The code section only applies when you write and request return of the security deposit, OR when the home is resold. Resold means that the new buyer has made application for, and been approved by the management for residency in the park. For as long as the new buyer lived there without being on the lease, you were on the hook for unpaid rent, AND the landlord may have no duty to return your security deposit. Once the UD was filed, and the new buyer evicted, your security deposit was used to help reimburse the landlord for the unpaid rent, and you are probably not entitled to recover it. You should, however, receive credit for the deposit against the judgment.

Finally, you may be able to set aside the judgment, but it will require that you file a motion within six months of the date of the entry of default. If six months has passed, you can almost certainly not get relief from the default judgment, and must enter into some sort of agreement with the landlord's attorney to resolve the debt before they start levying your bank accounts, and garnishing your wages. I strongly suggest you retain an attorney to assist you with all of this, as there are some very subtle nuances to mobilehome residency law, and landlord-tenant matters. There may be other defenses to this, but your time may have come and gone to obtain relief from the judgment.

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