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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Default Lease Gone Bad - Can I Keep Security Deposit

    My question involves a security deposit in the State of: California

    Hello, I rented my apartment on a 12 months lease to a tenant who turned out to be a nightmare: illegal drug consumption on property, heavy drinking, exposing other tenants to cigarette smoke despite a no-smoking provision in the lease, frequent after mid-night noise disturbances, consistent late rent payments. All this has been going on for 8 month now. Tenant promised on many occasions to change, but didn't. I finally had it, and gave him a 30 day notice because of multiple violations of our rental agreement. It looks like he is preparing to move by the end of the month. It has been almost impossible to show the place to new tenants, since the place is dirty, messy and smells like cigarettes and heavy BO, and tenant sleeps until 2-3 pm. It looks like I am going to lose one month rent, and it will take a while to restore the place. I have $1200 sec. deposit. Do I have to refund ANY of it, since he violated the lease on multiple occasions, forcing me to ask him to leave early.

    Thank you for any help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Lease Gone Bad - Can I Keep Security Deposit

    Quote Quoting sam lachs
    View Post
    My question involves a security deposit in the State of: California

    Hello, I rented my apartment on a 12 months lease to a tenant who turned out to be a nightmare: illegal drug consumption on property, heavy drinking, exposing other tenants to cigarette smoke despite a no-smoking provision in the lease, frequent after mid-night noise disturbances, consistent late rent payments. All this has been going on for 8 month now. Tenant promised on many occasions to change, but didn't. I finally had it, and gave him a 30 day notice because of multiple violations of our rental agreement. It looks like he is preparing to move by the end of the month. It has been almost impossible to show the place to new tenants, since the place is dirty, messy and smells like cigarettes and heavy BO, and tenant sleeps until 2-3 pm. It looks like I am going to lose one month rent, and it will take a while to restore the place. I have $1200 sec. deposit. Do I have to refund ANY of it, since he violated the lease on multiple occasions, forcing me to ask him to leave early.

    Thank you for any help.
    I've land-lorded for over 30 years. I treat this as a business issue rather than as a "legal issue".

    As a business issue, I want him out of there quick, get someone decent and normal, and go on with my life. I find that if I say to the tenant, if you're outta here on 1-31-10 (or whatever the date us), and I'll give you the ENTIRE deposit back, many tenants will jump at it, particularly if they expect nothing back.

    If you make noises that because of this, that, and the other thing, you tell the tenant "you're not getting a penny back", then he'll stay there a few more months just to spite you, and then do heavy damage to the place.

    My dad had a tenant pour cement down the sink, and had to replace all the pipes, after his tenant got ticked off.

    I had one tenant who lost his business, was going to squat, after owing me a months back rent at that point, decided to move when he heard he was going to get his entire deposit back (he honesty didn't think he was getting anything), plus another hundred or two if he moved right away.

    I had the wife go over to supervise the move to make sure he's gone. He had an estimate from the movers, had a money order in his hand, but when the movers came, BAD NEWS, they demanded another $200.00 more, which he said he didn't have. He already had plans for the deposit money return we agreed to.

    My wife called me in a panic, and I said "find out how much the movers want, go to the bank, and get the cash, and make sure he's out.

    What were my choices??

    He's totally broke, and suing him makes no difference. But the way the LL-tenant courts work here, he can squat another few months and there's nothing I can do.

    Give him his months deposit back, and I got a new tenant moving in the following week. Better losing 2 months rent than 6 months.

    You tell me, is it smart to hold his deposit, or am I ahead of the game??

    By the way, he told us later that his wife ran off with his 6 month old baby son back to Russia, and he planned to spend the deposit money to buy a plane ticket to find his son. His other plan was, after losing his business, wife and kid, he was going to shoot himself right in my apartment.

    Ever tried renting a place where the last tenant shot himself DEAD??

    He told me this between sobs, that I was the only decent person that treated him right, with his wife calling him a loser after he lost the business. He said that I had no idea what the deposit meant to him at that point. I left before he got me crying too.

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