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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Posts
    1

    Default Preparing To Move Out And Worried About Security Deposit

    My question involves a security deposit in the State of: CA.

    Hello everyone, I've got a question about a security deposit that I am expecting once I move out of my current location at the end of this month (Ending June 30,2008).

    Heres the history:
    I have lived in this house for 3 years with 3 other roommates, and I am moving out and they are staying with someone replacing me on this upcoming lease. The house is rented privately from the owners mother. The house was extremely dirty (college slum) when we moved in and I took about 500 pictures to prove it.

    The landlord wants to do an inspection and refund our deposit and then have the roommates now 'start over' on a new lease, which she has NOT done in the past 2 years of resigning our lease.

    She sent us a letter saying what she would like from us saying; clean carpets, get rid of broken items in backyard, mow weeds in backyard, fix 50+ year old broken drapes (broken when we moved in).

    First Question:
    She attached a lease agreement with the letter highlighting some portions of our agreement. One of them being a paragraph stating it our responsibility to pay for 'routing' out sewer lines unless intrusion from roots of street damage. Since we moved in the shower drain has progressively gotten worse until it stopped 2 months ago. We tried drano, and then called her. She said no problem and sent someone to route out the pipes. To get to the point, I think she might be thinking about taking out money from the security deposit for the plumber. I read the CA Tenant 4 Rules or security deposit deduction (http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...-deposit.shtml) and it does state say she can charge for previous repairs. Is this something she can do? I don't want to pay for this because these drains barely worked when we moved in.

    Second Question:
    Is there any way she can charge for the carpets being dirty? The white carpets are completely ruined, just like the pictures from when we moved in. The same goes for the stained, broken, ripped drapes from 50 years ago.

    So basically I am asking what everyones advise on this situation would be to prepare for the deposit return. I have several weeks to take pictures or whatever I need to do, I would just like to be prepared for our walk through. Its a little strange because everyone in the house is staying and she is wanting to return our deposits only to have them give her a deposit. Should I call her and arrange a 'pre-walkthrough' so we can have an understanding on what is to be done before I move out?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Preparing To Move Out And Worried About Security Deposit

    You can try to resolve things amicably. Ultimately she will make her claim against your security deposit. If it's not acceptable to you, you can sue her in small claims court and use your 500 pictures to document either that the damages were pre-existing or that the claim is for something that should have been categorized as "ordinary wear and tear".

    You have a collection of "then" pictures - make sure you also take "now" pictures (at the time you move or during any walk-through with the landlord) so that you can document the difference (or lack thereof) in the condition of the property.

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