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By Kevin Postema,
October 14, 2007

Question:
We rent a single-family home in West Hills on a one-year lease that ends Nov. 14. The owner of the house is not renewing the lease, opting to let it automatically convert to a month-to-month rental agreement. He also is raising the rent at the expiration of the lease and has given notice of the raise, effective Dec. 14.

We have decided to move rather than pay the increase, and we will give him a 30-day notice to quit, effective Dec. 14, before the rent increase kicks in.

We’ve done many repairs over the years, and the place is now in better shape than it was when we moved in. We would like to get our $6,000 security deposit refunded as soon as possible. We’ve left the owner about 20 voice mails, but he is not returning our calls. Should we let the 30 days run out and wait for our security-deposit refund, or should we do something now?

Answer:
State law requires the owners of residential rental property to refund security deposits to renters within three weeks (21 days) after they move out of their rentals. There is no law requiring the owner to refund the security deposit before the renters move out or before the 21 days have elapsed.

You say in your letter that the house is now in better shape than when you moved in. If that’s true, and there are no cleaning fees, unpaid rent or damages that exceed “normal wear and tear,” you should get a full refund of your deposit by Jan. 4, within the legally required, three-week time frame. If you do not get the refund by Jan. 4 — or a partial refund and a written explanation of how some or all of it was used to pay for damages, cleaning or unpaid rent, the things for which the owner can deduct money from the deposit — you can send me a letter asking about the refund, or if you can afford it, have a lawyer send him a letter on his or her letterhead, which tends to be more effective.

If all else fails, as a last resort, you can sue the owner in Small Claims Court for up to $7,500.

Kevin Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, an apartment owners’ service group. Send letters to aptlifeaagla@aol.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 9:43 am and is filed under Questions & Answers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.