Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: fair? or just partial!!!

My understanding is the new law will become effective 1/1/2003, and will probably be interpreted to have no retroactive effect, so any notice process put into play by giving notice prior to 1/1/03 will be governed entirely under existing law. At least, this is my educated guess.

The notice given seems to be legal unless the landlord's reason for not liking your spouse is that he or she belongs to a protected class, e.g. the termination is based on race, religion, etc.

Whether you can use part of a security deposit as last month's rent depends upon your written rental agreement, but most of them are written to prohibit this by requiring the deposit to be maintained at the full amount at all times while you're in possession. You would have to weigh the possible adverse effects of not paying the last month in advance and forcing the landlord to deduct for it. You could be sued or get a negative on your credit report. I would advise negotiating with the landlord if you can offer a deal (for extra weeks, for applying some of the deposit towards rent) you can and will stick to.

Finding a place is easier if you can get a good reference from your prior landlord, and one way to do that is to be up-front and forthright about your departure date and your payment intentions.

If you have kept the place neat and clean you could offer a walk-through to show that retaining a hefty deposit for cleaning and damage is unnecessary.

You will improve your results if you don't get sucked into negative feelings about the landlord (however warranted they may be) and instead keep open communications and spirit of mutual cooperation to handle the departure smoothly.