Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I moved out of my rental on Dec. 14, 2009. I received my security deposit with an estimated 400 deduction for cleaning and paint . Today, a month and a half after the fact, I received a letter with a copy of a revised security deposit, requiring me to repay 179 dollars for bulbs, batteries,trash removal, and garage cleaning. I called and asked them why this was the case? Why they couldn't deduct it before and why it wasn't on the original list of deductions? She had stated that they couldn't get a maintenance person in there. She said if I did not pay they would send it to a collection agency, which would then ruin my credit. Can they do this?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Write them, or better yet get a lawyer to write them, demanding the $400 remainder of your security deposit, and promising legal action against them if they don't pay within 10 days. This assumes you took lots of photos of your clean rental unit when you vacated it -- like all prudent people do.