Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I recently assumed the property management for a 2,000 sf single tenant industrial building with a tenant who's five-year lease expires in a couple months. However, the tenant, a contractor, did TI's without acquiring landlord approval or permits (as per the lease agreement). Changes include: a sink on the other side of the bathroom wall (tapped plumbing from bathroom); a wall that does not go to the ceiling, new canned lighting, additional electrical outlets, and remodeled bathrooms. I am unable to know the full extent of the changes because the owner does not have an original floor plan and the tenant may not be providing accurate information. We're going to try the city to get the original plans.

The tenant and owner have a strained relationship so the tenant does not want to do anything to resolve the issue at this point and suggest to the owner to take legal action. The tenant claims to not have assets but the landlord is holding a security deposit. How much of the security deposit can we legally hold back? How can we legally quantify the cost of repairing the permit issue? Please advise as to how to proceed. Thanks a million!


Asked on 8/03/10, 9:21 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Well you are going to have to prove what the tenant did, and what needs to be done to deal with it. Then you have to establish what dealing with it will cost. That is how much you can withhold from the deposit. If it costs more than the deposit, you can sue them for it.

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Answered on 8/09/10, 3:34 pm


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