Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Moving out of rental

Are there are any laws protecting renters from over charges from landlords for cleaning of property? For example a friend told me that carpets of apartments are to be cleaned/replaced after each tenant by law. Is there any truth to this? The charge they are requesting for carpet cleaning is $60, Apartment cleaning $100, painting $130. On the notice to vacate & Acknowledgement-CA form issued to us by the leasing office it states that after the final walk through no later than three weeks (21 days) after Owner/Agent has regained possesion of the premises, Owner/Agent shall provide Resident with an itemized statement, indicating the basis for, and the amount of, any security received and the disposition of the security and will return any remainig portion of such deposit to the Resident(s). Can they really take this long after the final walk thru? Is there any where that i can find any literature explainig the specifics. We have always received our full deposits from every property we've ever rented. However this is the first time we have rented thru a leasing office. When we initially moved in we did a walk thru w/ a rep. we took pictures of problems with the property & made a list. Apparently the pictures and the list dissapeared.


Asked on 1/22/08, 4:18 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Lyle Johnson Bedi and Johnson Attorneys at Law

Re: Moving out of rental

I addition to Mr. Whipple's response, the state of California has a booklet on its web site that give general rules for refunds of security deposits. It provides a rule of thumb as to the amount that can be charged for cleaning, painting etc. These statements assume that the tenant has not damaged the property.

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Answered on 1/29/08, 8:59 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Moving out of rental

(1) The laws protecting tenants from landlord overcharges are pretty much the same as those protecting anyone from overcharges on a time-and-materials type contract. (2) The information from your friend about carpet cleaning between tenants as a matter of law is a persistent urban legend - there is no such law. (3) The charges being made seem quite reasonable; it must be a small apartment or not in very bad shape. (4) The 21 days is from when you vacate (hand over the keys), not from the walk-through, and is a legal outer limit on deposit accounting and refund.

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Answered on 1/23/08, 12:10 am


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