Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Tenant Damages Tree

My tenants signed a rental

agreement stipulating that they may

not prune the trees and large shrubs

on the property. I went to do some

yard cleanup early on in their

tenancy (with permission) and

discovered that they had pruned

many of the large shrubs and small

trees, including destroying the form

of my Japanese maple. I was livid and

insisted that they be evicted for

breaking the rental agreement, but

my husband convinced me to let

them stay. Since then I have been

unable to properly care for the

damaged tree because hiring a

specialist was beyond my means and

doing it myself would mean going

over there weekly which I couldn't do

because of my work. Now they are

leaving and I want them to pay for

the damage to that one special tree.

I got a quote when the damage was

originally done to replace the tree, for

$2400, which I didn't want to do

since the tree could be repaired with

time and attention. The tree is still

ugly and will take time to fix. I want

to charge them $300 which was the

original cost of the tree eight years

ago. Paying a gardener to bring it

back into shape would cost more.

What should I charge them?


Asked on 2/24/09, 3:32 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan C. Becker Your Lawyer for Life.

Re: Tenant Damages Tree

As a caveat, it may be worth the small expense to have an attorney review your standard lease so that in the future you can provide for an automatic remedy should damage be done to the landscaping (which is very important to you). Regarding this current issue,you can deduct the amount as damages beyond wear and tear from the security deposit. The landlord is allowed to make a good faith estimate of charges and include the estimate in an itemized statement in two situations: (1) the repair is being done by the landlord or an employee and cannot reasonably be completed within the 21 days, or (2) services or materials are being supplied by another person or business and the landlord does not have the invoice or receipt within the 21 days. In either situation, the landlord may deduct the estimated amount from your security deposit. In situation (2), the landlord must include the name, address and telephone number of the person or business that is supplying the services or materials.

I hope that helps:

All the best,

Bryan

Becker Attorneys

619.400.4929

Read more
Answered on 2/24/09, 1:28 pm


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