Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: security deposit

Technically, the landlord can elect to treat each tenancy separately, and therefore, they can require that you post a new security deposit for the new apartment. Generally, when you enter into a lease, you are required to pay first month's rent plus your security deposit before you move in. On your current lease, the landlord is not required by law to return your security deposit until 21 days after you surrender the property. So yes, technically they are correct that if they elect to treat you this way, you will have to post a security deposit before you get your old one back. When you pay rent (late or on-time) has nothing to do with the issue of security deposits. The security deposit is intended to reimburse the landlord for any damage to the apartment beyond normal "wear & tear" and therefore, until you surrender the apartment, they cannot fix what amount of the deposit they may be required to keep to reimburse themselves for damage.

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Re: security deposit

As Mr. Gibbs points out, technically landlord is correct.

However, my advice is to move out at end of term, since this cheapskate will cause more problems in the future.