Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Former Landlord Won't Respond
My company moved out of our old office 10 months ago. The old landlord owes us a deposit refund of about $1500. We haven't been able to get them to respond to phone calls, faxes and a hand delivered letter. We are about to file a small claims court suit. Can we charge interest? If so, how much? Is there anything else we should be doing?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Former Landlord Won't Respond
Unless your lease specifically provided for you to be paid interest on your security deposit, you are not entitled to interest during the period the landlord properly held the deposit.
However, I believe you would be entitled to 10% legal interest from the date the deposit should have been refunded. Your claim should ask for the deposit itself, 10% interest from the date the lease ended, plus your costs of filing and serving the small-claims action. The court can't award you more than you ask for, it can only pare down your claim if it finds it excessive, so err on the aggressive side.
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