My question involves a security deposit in the State of: California, Los Angeles (specifically)
My roommate and I moved out of our apartment in January 09 and at the time the landlord said she would need time to inspect the apartment. We allowed for 2 weeks, then as we began to inquire she informed us that the she was investigating an issue of unusually high water bills with the LADWP and once the issue was resolved then she would take the amount owed for the last water bills out of our deposit - back story: our landlord pays water then she splits the total amount by 5 tenants.
Anyhow, after a week she informs us that she has only received payment for a water bill from us twice in the last two years! Her claim is preposterous and she is basically asking us to prove that we have paid the water bill more than twice - she claims the money owed in unpaid water bills magically equals that of the deposit we paid. It's now been 5-6 weeks and I am in the process of hunting down previous roommates and asking them if they can trace copies of the checks they wrote to her.
My question is, can she do this? It's been a tremendous pain locating old roommates. Moreover, some of them have switched banks and no longer have records of the checks they wrote.
PLEASE HELP!![]()

