Dear Counselor-
If a master tenant/landlord refuses a timely rent payment for the last month of residence because they asked a sub-tenant (me) to leave in the middle of a lease term because of a personal dispute not involving any breech of lease terms, and refuses to accept a timely rental payment for the last month, on grounds that I was over-staying the period they had granted to move out, can they, after I move out, keep my security deposit in payment of that last month's rent that they had previously refused?
I was living in a group house with eight other adults neat the UC Berkeley campus. Three of the tenants were master tenants and the rest of us were sub lessors. I had a series of conflict with another tenant over various minor matters, leading to some tension and mutual distrust. This tenant then asserted that I had committed a felony to both the other tenants and the police. Both the other tenants and the police initially believed these charges, and the police arrested me and turned my room inside out and upside down, and seized all my computers and kept them for six months. (I am trying to launch a start-up based on software I had spent the preceding three years writing and was essentially unable to work during the period that my computers and all my back-up devices were held). The arrest was under a Ramey warrant – a fishing expedition, basically. After repeatedly putting off my arraignment, the prosecutor acknowledged that after an extensive search of my hard drives no evidence of any crime had been found and no charges were going to be brought. So I was (fortunately) never arraigned, and so there was (unfortunately) no formal dismissal.
My best assessment of the other tenant's allegations is that they were based on a sincere if far-fetched misinterpretations of some personal documents of mine that they acquired by snooping on my computer without my knowledge or consent, colored by the preceding conflict and attendant dislike.
The master tenants believed the allegations and told me that they were terminating my lease, three months into a year's lease term. They demanded that I move out by the end of the month. Note that the alleged crime, even if I had actually committed it, did not violate any lease term, and that the initial demand was given with less than 30 days notice before the supposed deadline.
In the wake of these events, I felt pretty abused and I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. However, I had (and have) pretty limited means and quite a lot of books and furniture. (I was recovering from a break-up with my partner and had downsized a lot in order to fit into the space, but it was still a considerably better than average deal, as we all split the rent equally but I had the largest room in the house). I stated that I would move out as soon as I could, but that I was not going to move to a temporary location and then have to move again (as they demanded). It took me about two and a half months for me to find a big enough place that I could afford.
Before the first of the last month that I resided there, and before I had found a new place to live, I offered a rent check for the upcoming month. The master tenant refused to accept this check, I presume because they believed that accepting it would constitute permission for me to stay through the end of the month, and possibly start the notice to quit process over again. They had demanded that I leave by the end of the previous month. They were actively threatening me with some sort of eviction proceedings at that time, though no such action was ever filed.
I moved out by the end of the month for which they had refused my check. They then informed me that they were keeping my deposit payment in payment of the rent for that final month.
I feel that the lease “termination” was plainly illegal.
I feel that I was essentially harassed out of the house, and that the refusal to accept the last month's rent check was part of that harassment, intended as a threat. Note that essentially every place I looked at had rental applications that included a question about whether you had ever faced any previous evictions, and that every apartment I looked at had ten or more applicants for the space, so the threat of an eviction proceeding, even if they could not have prevailed, had real teeth.
I had about $2,000 in moving costs and paid $5,000 in nonrefundable money to a bail bondsman in order to get out of jail. Under these circumstances, I believe that the master tenants should not be able to keep my security deposit. In payment of my last month's rent. Am I correct? If so, is there some authority I can cite to this effect?
I look forward to reading your advice.
Warmly, A.Finch

