Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Your landlord must, WITHIN TWENTY-ONE DAYS after you move, either send you a full refund of the security deposit, or an itemized statement that lists reasons for and amounts of any

deductions from the deposit, with a refund of any amounts not deducted. You are not clear what the written conversation was about.

With respect to the amount of time to sue, we call that the statute of limitations, and you have asked a good question. The law is clear that the deposit belongs to the tenant, so arguably the landlord's wrongful retention is conversion, which would be governed by a three (3) year statute of limitations. (Code Civ. Proc., sect. 338 subd. (c).) The statute also provides for a statutory penalty, which would also be governed by a three year limitations/ period.

The time period would run from the time the landlord was supposed to deliver the itemized statement or refund your deposit. Keep in mind that there is a difference between the landlord's failure to return the deposit or deliver an itemized statement of deductions, which results in the landlord's forfeiture of the security deposit, and a landlord's wrongful deductions in which you dispute the items deducted.