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Landlord refused to return deposit-I moved out of state

By realestate4ripp   Follow   Tue, 9 Oct 2012, 5:42pm   2,179 views   26 comments
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My landlord in San Fran completed walk thru & said
everything was fine & I would receive deposit....
Now going on 3months no deposit or correspondence to the contrary...
However when I moved out it was because I was transferred to Denver
Can/should I take him to small claims in CO or CA?
Please advise best approach...if i need to go to small claims in CA can I hire a representative
Or do I have to be there in person?
Thank you

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1. Aunt Mildred Follow Befriend 2 threads 7 comments

   1   5:58pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike (3)   lol

2. Patrick Follow Befriend (54) 5,182 threads 6,155 comments 46 male Menlo Park, CA Premium

   2   6:01pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Protected   You will definitely win if you fight it in CA. I had a similar situation in 1999 or so and the judge simply berated my landlord (the former mayor of Menlo Park) and I won. The landlord has 21 days to explain or refund, and you're saying the landlord did neither, so he loses automatically. But how to do small claims from out of state? I don't know.

3. Raw Follow Befriend 10 threads 694 comments

   3   6:06pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   What a bastard! He probably knew you were going out of state and took advantage of that by stealing your money. Check with the California DRE. If he is a realtor you might have more options. Hope you get him.

4. Scagnetti Follow Befriend (1) 15 threads 300 comments

   4   6:06pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Did you give the landlord your forwarding address?

5. realestate4ripp Follow Befriend 1 threads 2 comments

   5   6:15pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Thanks everyone for the quick replys Yes he has new address All my mail is forwarded I have sent him emails confirming he had address He said check would be sent, etc

6. rufita11 Follow Befriend (3) 10 threads 162 comments San Ramon, CA

   6   6:29pm Tue 9 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   This site is helpful http://www.caltenantlaw.com/Deposit.htm

7. jsmarket Follow Befriend 2 threads 54 comments Mill Valley, CA

   7   7:06am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Learn your rights - and sue the mofo in small claims: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf We rented for 5.5years in the same place - we traveled 2800 miles from Washington DC to find our our landlord was, wait for it, a LANDLORD'S RIGHTS LAWYER. Urgh. More depressing was that several neighbors greeted us the first week with the news that he had sued or threatened many of them for various reasons in the past 10 years since he bought the home. It was a nice house, a fair price and my business got busy and we had kids...so life got complicated otherwise we would've moved earlier, but we lasted thru 5.5 years of hell with this guy. Too long to get into.... Anyhow, knowing what a bitch this guy was, upon move out, we did an exhaustive clean up - leaving it MUCH better than the day we moved in. He wife did the walk thru and said everything looked good so we figured we'd get our entire deposit back. We didn't - we got half back - and when I asked why I was told (paraphrasing): "I will gladly send you back the balance of your deposit then I'll sue you in state court". I'd have to hire a lawyer to fend this lawyer prick off so I decided it came to $20 a month in the 65 months we lived there and to just leave it be and attend to our busy lives. I got a nice measure of revenge, however, from the tenant after us. Apparently said lawyer may have gotten poorer or more nutz post-2008 recession and stole ALL of the follow up tenants deposit from their 2 years stay there. A former friendly neighbor put us in touch with one another and my story of woe corroborated with his. Lucky guy - his Dad is a Real Estate Attorney in Portland, OR and tried his case at Mediation and won 2x his deposit monies + legal costs. My feedback was important in nailing the prick as it dovetailed with some of the same dirty tricks played on the newer tenant showing willful intent So, although I never got our deposit back, I was instrumental is seeing a prick get his just desserts. It was quite satisfying.

8. FortWayne Follow Befriend (13) 102 threads 3,759 comments

   8   7:40am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Take him to small claims in CA. CA law states that if he does not return you your deposit, he owes you your deposit and 2 month rent on top of it. Plus additional expenses related to filing. This is a standard procedure here. So if he didn't return your deposit, he owes you a lot of money and law is on your side. That landlord really screwed up.

9. Quigley Follow Befriend (6) 17 threads 516 comments Huntington Beach, CA

   9   7:50am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   It's worth a plane ticket on the day of the court hearing. Don't let this guy get away with it. If renters don't assert their rights, then slumlords like Iwog will rape us every time.

10. bubblesitter Follow Befriend (5) 10 threads 2,329 comments

    10   10:05am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   You will most likely prevail in small claims court. Landlord HAS to give you detailed description of issue discovered and how much money he spent to fix it. He can't charge you more then that. Unfortunately this means a trip for you back to the small claims court here.

11. rfsanders Follow Befriend 6 threads 55 comments Fontana, CA

    11   10:13am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   I always lose my deposit. But that's because I throw a big party the night I leave. Haha. Just kidding. I know renter's law in my area allows them to gobble up $20 of the deposit per month of occupancy for maintenance and "carpet cleaning." So my $400 deposit was gone after 20 months living there.

12. Andy S Follow Befriend 6 threads 17 comments Seattle, WA

    12   11:21am Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Same thing happened to me with a landlord. I did not bother taking him to the small claims court, below is what I did. Bought some Skunk Essense. Got back into house, opened up some electrical sockets, and used a syringe to spray the essense in the wall cavity, also sprayed the essense behind kitchen cabinets. I can guarantee, that the house will never be rented again this century. I also called him up from another country to say: Congratulations, you left me with a bad taste, I left you with a bad smell, I guess were now even!! I can only imagine he deeply regrets screwing me for an extra $700.

13. JG1 Follow Befriend 3 threads 243 comments Los Angeles, CA

    13   12:09pm Wed 10 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   rfsanders says I always lose my deposit. But that's because I throw a big party the night I leave. Haha. Just kidding. I know renter's law in my area allows them to gobble up $20 of the deposit per month of occupancy for maintenance and "carpet cleaning." So my $400 deposit was gone after 20 months living there. What area is that?

14. E-man Follow Befriend (31) 34 threads 2,543 comments San Jose, CA Premium

    14   12:42am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Protected   I would hire an attorney in SF to write the landlord a letter threatening to sue him. It will cost you $300-$400, but you'd have a very high chance of getting your deposit back. That's what I would do. Good luck.

15. 37108605 Follow Befriend 1 threads 1,055 comments

    15   7:46am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Aunt Mildred says lol To just laugh about this says everything about you to me.

16. slin Follow Befriend 26 comments male

    16   8:28am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   You will win your case but if you use a Attorney in that state to fight for you your reward or most of it will end up in his pocket.If you attend and have to drive or fly there you must clame this as part of your suing him so you are not out of pocket.

17. robertoaribas Follow Befriend (23) 55 threads 3,763 comments Scottsdale, AZ robertoaribas's website

    17   8:30am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   the landlord has to refund/explain within a certain timeframe, depeding on local rules. In AZ it is I believe 2 weeks, seems like in your area, it is 3 weeks. did you finish out your lease? being transferred doesn't end a lease,so even if the home was left perfect you could still quite easily lose all of your deposit in that case, if the place wasn't re rented immediately... The landlord would still have to explain that within the time frame though.

18. E-man Follow Befriend (31) 34 threads 2,543 comments San Jose, CA Premium

    18   9:12am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Protected   Because the landlord didn't write a security deposit refund letter within the 21 days specifying what he did with the deposit money, the OP wins by default. I guess you have called or written to your landlord, but have gotten no where. As mentioned above, you should explain your situation to a RE attorney. Pay him/her $300 to write a letter to the landlord. You have a good chance of getting your deposit back. It's a small gamble indeed.

19. FortWayne Follow Befriend (13) 102 threads 3,759 comments

    19   9:14am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Why go through a lawyer when you can just file a court claim and get the money back anyway?

20. Goran_K Follow Befriend (4) 25 threads 1,517 comments Laguna Beach, CA Premium

    20   9:15am Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Protected   This is a slam dunk. The land lord will owe you interest as well (in CA). Just take him to small claims, and get your money back.

21. realestate4ripp Follow Befriend 1 threads 2 comments

    21   1:45pm Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Thank you everyone...Excellent feedback and insight...we are preparing the docs and will schedule a trip as soon as we can...I will let us know how this gets resolved...

22. Patrick Follow Befriend (54) 5,182 threads 6,155 comments 46 male Menlo Park, CA Premium

    22   5:54pm Thu 11 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Protected   francophile100 says Getting a judgment is easy in comparison to getting the $$ after the judgment. True, but it's kind of fun to hire the sheriff to go physically take their property.

23. 37108605 Follow Befriend 1 threads 1,055 comments

    23   5:59am Fri 12 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   francophile100 says Getting a judgment is easy in comparison to getting the $$ after the judgment. That's a good point. My mother has been there over a hit and run. She got the judgment but her getting the money that was awarded her? That was the real joke.

24. JG1 Follow Befriend 3 threads 243 comments Los Angeles, CA

    24   9:09am Fri 12 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Reader says francophile100 says Getting a judgment is easy in comparison to getting the $$ after the judgment. That's a good point. My mother has been there over a hit and run. She got the judgment but her getting the money that was awarded her? That was the real joke. Depending on the state and the situation, sometimes you can sit on these judgments, making sure to timely renew when necessary, and eventually the debtor may need to buy a house or refi a loan or get a security clearance or something that will motivate them (i.e., force them) to pay off the judgment to get it off their record.

25. zzyzzx Follow Befriend (9) 410 threads 4,107 comments Baltimore, MD

    25   9:15am Fri 12 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Obligatory:

26. elliemae Follow Befriend (25) 413 threads 6,976 comments Saint George, UT elliemae's website

    26   9:25am Fri 12 Oct 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like (1)   Dislike   Hire apocolypsefuck to represent you, the $ you receive will be peppered with the landlord's blood. It'll be worth it.