Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Rent past due and statute of limitations

I have lived in my CA apartment for three years and the lease will be up in Aug. 1. In the course of three years I have lived with 3 different roommates (one each year). The landlord is now notifying me that she will withhold $200 for an underpayment in rent 1.5 years ago. Neither myself or my roommate at the time have our checkbook statements from 1.5 years ago to validate her claim that we underpaid. She would like to withhold this amount from my security deposit with my new roommate. I am wondering if there is anyway to claim that she has waited too long to now make us pay this amount. A year and half ago we would have been able to verify whether this was correct, but now we cannot. Even if it was underpaid we have no idea between the two of us who would have underpaid. Further, during the past six months she has repeatedly tried to make us pay money that we don't owe and am therefore reluctant to rely on her word that we actually underpaid by this amount.


Asked on 6/30/09, 8:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Gibbs The Gibbs Law Firm, APC

Re: Rent past due and statute of limitations

The claim for rent is based upon (given that you state you have a lease) a written agreement. The statute of limitations in California for a claim based upon a written contract is four years, so she is perfectly entitled to make the claim, and your only defense is to refute the claim by proving that you paid the full rent in that month. You should keep banking records for a minimum of five years. You should, theoretically, have copies of those checks available to you, and if she can tell you the exact month, its not that difficult to find the copies and prove to her that you made the full rent payment. Even if her record keeping isn't the best, her claim that you short-paid her is going to require that you prove that the full rent was paid. If you don't have copies, your bank will and you can order them from the bank. I would suggest in the future that you keep all financial records for a minimum of five years for just this sort of occassion.

*Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided is general and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.

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Answered on 7/01/09, 1:01 pm


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