I previously lived at the house with two roommates. There was a verbal agreement with the landlord that I could live there. My roommates were on the lease.. I was not. We lived in this condition for about a year and a half.
When my roommates moved out, I took over the lease with two more roommates. A new lease was written and signed as well as a new security deposit. My previous roommates recieved thier deposit in full. The landlord did a walk through and had them clean a few things, but that was it. In my opinion, they did not do a thourough walk-through and did not notice the condition of the house.
When I turned in my 30 day notice of leave, I immediately began working on cleaning the house. my roommmates and I had already been taking really good care of it. We live there for about one year.
Now my lanlord will not return my deposit and has yet to send a letter as to why or what the deposit was used for. (it has been 27 days since move-out). I've talked to him on the phone and he said they had to get new carpet, fix the holes in the walls, get new screens.. etc. However, most of these were in really bad shape when we took the lease. We created no new holes in the walls and took very good care of the house in general.
Because my landlord is in violation of the 21 days law (in California). I sent him a notice to return the deposit. I do not wish to take this to court, but I will if necessary.
Is there any defense I might have against the claims that we left the house in poor condition (it was in poor condition when we took it)? I feel we are taking the blame for something that was not our fault.

