Tenant Didn’t Get His Rental Deposit Back After Moving Out, So He Looked At The Law And Made The Landlord Pay

Jayne Elliott

4 months ago

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance/Pexels/Ivan Samkov

One renter did everything in his power to make sure he got his deposit back when he moved out of the house he was renting.

Then the owner did everything in her power to make sure he paid even more than the deposit.

Let’s see who wins as this story unfolds…

Use the law to withhold my deposit? Well okay. Here we gooooo!

I moved to California in 2010, and had lined up a house on a 3 acre property with a nice size detached barn.

We were on a rent to own, to allow time to get settled, and secure the loan to buy the property.

So we had a standard California rental agreement, with the handshake agreement it would not be needed once we purchased the house.

A couple little things to fill in.

There are important details about the owners.

The female owner was a realtor, so there was a reasonable expectation she knew what she was doing.

The husband was…wierd. I cannot explain it past that.

But part of the agreement was we actually bought the horse that was boarded on the property, and also they had the detached barn full of their old crap, with the agreement that it would be removed by the owners once we purchased.

At first, everything was great, but not for long.

So we move in, things are going fairly good. We have several cats at the time, but keep the house cleaned up, and we had one cat prone to accidents, but for the most part, we kept everything good.

Sometime during the winter, we have an issue with the septic system.

The owner proceeds to let it slip the septic was not put in legally, and was not correct. Okay, they still paid for the repairs.

A month or so later, a water line the husband installed to use for watering the horse broke, and again, find out it was not done correctly, this time I was forced to pay for it.

Okay cool.

The renter finally had enough.

Once I found out about the septic, I started looking for other houses, and found one available, and we were able to get it.

At this point, I give the owner about 2 months notice. We had done some improvements on the property, including a tack shed (for all the horse gear, my stepdaughter loved horses, and the horse was hers).

So almost immediately, the owners attitude changes, and I realize we are in for a long 2 months.

We are slowly moving into the new house, as we have time. During this time, the owner was randomly showing up without 24 hours notice (CA law), attempting to show the house with zero warning, and the best one, she started “inspecting” the house before we were even moved out.

Moving day can’t come quickly enough.

At this point, we were about 75% moved. The new house was on 12 1/2 acres, and we did not have a pen to put the horse and goats into.

One day, I get home from work, and we have to call a vet out. Owners daughter, who use to own the horse, decided to give the horse and our 2 goats a years worth of glucosamine supplements for the horse.

We ended up with a several hundred dollar vet bill.

So we sped things up, and ended up clearing a few weeks early. Because of this, there were a few odds and ends left behind, including a wooden run-to for the goats.

The renter was determined to get the deposit back.

I spent about 500.00 on cleaning alone to make sure we got our deposit back. I even brought in a professional cleaning service to finish the house up.

(I spent many times moving from base housing while military, this is common.)

So we complete the final walkthrough with the owner, and she seems happy. She says she will figure everything out, and send me a check. Okay cool.

But it wasn’t “cool.”

About 4 weeks after the original move out date, I get a LARGE manila envelope in the mail, from the owner. Strange, but okay cool.

I open it, and she is trying to charge me in the neighborhood of 2500.00 on top of the 2000.00 deposit she is keeping.

Okay lady, lets see what you got.

In the envelope is about 10 small mailer envelopes, and about 300ish pictures of various things on the property and in the house. Along with a 6 page letter outlining what I owe her for.

So I start reading, couple hundred for trash removal, including a list of items removed, and the receipt for removal, several hundred for paint, (during the walkthrough I offered to paint the rooms we had painted, one was an obnoxious cotton candy pink) and the owner said no, it was fine.

There is also a charge for close to 3000.00 for brand new carpeting and high end padding from Lowes, as well as the receipt, and also an itemized charge for labor.

I believe there were a few other items, but I don’t have the paperwork in front of me.

He obviously wasn’t going to agree to pay for all of this.

Now, my first reaction was pure rage. I was seeing red.

I wrote the nastiest letter to her 3 different times, and took a step back.

She had threatened to take me to court.

Here we go…

Cue MC.

I pulled up California rental laws, and at the time, there was a great website that explained what an owner could legally charge you for.

So I sat down, and I believe the entire letter I responded to her with was around 15 pages.

The renter responded to everything.

The highlights:

I was not responsible for the painting, or labor associated with, as I provided the final inspection that did not note any issues with paint color.

I was not responsible for the trash removal, as she listed one item that was ours (the plywood run-to in the field) and the items actually listed were all her personal items removed from the detached barn, and it was not my responsibility.

I was not responsible for paying the emergency plumbing repair (mentioned earlier) and I provided the bill and the fact it was an emergency, as it was flooding over half the property, and making entrance to the property impossible.

The best one was the last one. The carpets.

So in her letter, she mentioned a horrible smell of cat urine, which she proceeds to explain occurred during the illegal inspections. She also had provided documentation on the cost of materials, including all her purchases.

The best part? They were all dated PRIOR to our final walkthrough. No matter the result, she was replacing that carpet.

California law was on the renter’s side.

So California law is very specific on what the owner can charge for carpets.

At the final walkthrough, she was okay with the carpets, but then changed her mind a few days later.

So I explained, to the letter, that I was responsible for roughly 1/30th of the cost of replacement, as she graciously showed me the 10 yr old carpet was good for 30 years.

So due to the fact it was normal wear and tear, I agreed to cover that portion (it was only a couple hundred).

Would they go to court?

Now in her letter, she threatened legal action as well.

So I put everything together, including a final breakdown of what was owed to her, and what was owed to me, and it was close to 1500.00.

I also informed her I was ready to take the case to court if she didn’t agree with me, as that was the next legal step.

About a month later (she had 30 days to respond), I get a check for $1250.00, and a short note saying she expected this issue was considered resolved.

I have never smiled so much cashing a check.

Now that’s how you do it!

Not surprisingly, people on Reddit has some opinions.

This person thinks the renter could’ve done better.