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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    6

    Default Illegal Sublet, and My Landlord Will Not Return My Deposit

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California

    This is a bit long but only to clear up what the question is and why its all shady, thus the reason it is at trial already. You can skip to the bottom to the main question if you don't care for details of how this happened.

    I found a rental property in Fremont CA. for $1650/month with a deposit of $1650 plus $150 for a cat deposit.. total $1800 deposit. I met with NINA whom I thought was the property owner and also met her realtor who showed me the property (Realtor made her “property manager” presence known and handed me a business card). I inspected the house which had no power at the time and informed my soon-to-be roommates in Washington that this house was good for our needs and they agreed after reviewing the photos i took with my camera. I arranged a meeting with the realtor and arrived at an APARTMENT complex which I thought this was out of place considering that they are leasing a HOUSE to us and I mentioned, "this is odd, they are leasing out a HOUSE but live in apartments??" after a short pause, the Realtor responded with, "These are not apartments, they are condo's". I noticed the way she responded to that but I didn’t really think anything was wrong until later.

    We signed into a LEASE agreement (not sublease) with NINA to rent a HOUSE and in the contract it stated, "Agreement between NINA (landlord) and ME, (tenant)". Paid a security deposit of $1800 and first months rent. The lease term was 7 months. Seeing that this was 7 months and not 6 or 1 year like a typical lease, I was a bit confused since I have never seen a lease like this and asked why and what happens after the 7 months and they simply said, "we'll arrange that when the time comes".

    Me- “so, we’ll be able to go month to month? or do we do another year”
    THEM- “yes, month to month or a new contract, we’ll talk when it comes”

    So 6.5 months later, we receive a letter from NINA stating that our “contract is over and you can now communicate further with THE LANDLORD Mr. BEN.”

    WTF!?? That was when the whole story unraveled and is the reason that we are going to Court for the 3rd time over this mess. Neither myself or the actual landlord had knowledge of this fraudulent sublease agreement or knowledge of each other until the original lease was expired between the real landlord Mr. BEN and NINA. Our checks were being written to NINA and NINA was writing the checks to Mr. BEN. Plus! I found out that NINA had raised our rent another $50 more than what she was paying (she was paying $1600/month). But she did pass the extra $50 to the landlord in her checks.

    It's time for me to get my paid deposits back from NINA since I no longer have a contract with her and it was all BS in the first place anyway. NINA say's, "I will return your deposit once the landlord has returned mine" and the landlord says, "I will not return NINA's deposit until I see the house". So we arrange a meeting with Mr. Ben, Nina and after checking out the house the landlord denies a return on NINA’s deposit check.

    Our original move-in checklist checks out with the new checklist with the land lord and to make it simple.. NINA destroyed the house within the time she was in it. Now that NINA is not getting her deposit back, she refuses to return ours and in the meantime somehow tricks the landlord into saying that he will just transfer NINA's paid deposits into my name. But there is nothing from me agreeing to that or even having knowledge that this took place. But once he found out what she did, he realized that it was just a scam and that he could not transfer their deposit. Plus there is nothing in writing from them agreeing to it.

    ---

    Basically it comes down to this,

    •NINA leases out the house for $1800 deposit (LANDLORD +$1800 / NINA -$1800)

    •I paid NINA a deposit. (LANDLORD +$1800 / NINA +$1800 / ME -$1800)

    •NINA is not getting her paid deposit back to cover the costs of repairs etc. (LANDLORD $0 / NINA +$1800 / ME -$1800)

    •NINA tricked the LANDLORD into transferring their deposit which is now GONE (due to the condition of the house) into our names (LANDLORD $0 / NINA +$1800 / ME -$1800) .... nothing has changed

    The deposits paid by NINA are already going to cover repairs to the house but we are still living in it. In any case... the deposit was gone the minute the landlord refused to return it to her because it was to cover expenses. So there is no deposit in the landlords hand now and therefore no way for him to transfer anything. Nina should be out $1800 but keep in mind that she still has OUR deposit when we moved in. So technically she already got her deposit back and in her mind, the trick worked.

    Nina still has my deposit and the landlord is still asking for a deposit from us but is working with us since he knows the situation. When the day comes that I move out, I should be getting my deposit back.. but this wont happen because the landlord has not yet collected a deposit from me. We went to court once and the case was returned to trial because the Judge knew one of our witnesses and there was a conflict of interest. Then when we returned to trial, the judge ruled in favor of ME/US because the Lease agreement was clearly a falsified one which makes it invalid and also that since I am the one who gave my deposit to NINA, then she should be the one to return it to me.

    ... SKIIIIIIIRRRRT!!

    NINA filed an Appeal which means that this all has to go back to court.

    She is trying to justify that because her deposit was transferred into my name.. then she doesn't owe us anything. But in reality... Her deposit is gone and you can't transfer an imaginary deposit into someone else's name. This bitch is sneaky and she used her sneakyness to trick the landlord into accepting the deal. Again, I had no knowledge of this transfer nor would I ever agree to it even if it was legit because the house is now my responsibility and when I return the house, I am very likely not getting my deposit back.

    It is all going to come down to NINA trying to say that she doesn't owe anyone anything because she gave my deposit to the landlord. (which technically isn't true at all)

    ------- THE MAIN QUESTION-------
    What is the law regarding transferring deposits? You can't legally make someone chase after their money.

    •NINA "transferred" my deposit to the landlord and is making me go to him to get it.
    •The landlord doesn't agree to the transfer because he realized that he was fooled into agreeing to it. NOTHING in writing.
    •I had no knowledge or consent to a transfer

    A lends B $20
    B gives C, A's $20
    B tells A, "Hey, go get your $20 from C.. he has it now"

    I need a good case to explain this and also prove how this is not a legal transfer even if it were possible... which it isn't because NINA already lost her deposit. Is there something that I can show in court showing this law?

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

    Default Re: Illegal Sublet, and My Landlord Will Not Return My Deposit

    What do you mean "transfer"? You had a lease with Nina, not her landlord. You paid the security deposit to Nina, not her landlord. You get the deposit back from Nina, not her landlord.

    If you buried something that changes that in your extensive extraneous detail, sorry I missed it.

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