I have to say, I’m one of the rare people out there who has been lucky with landlords in the past and I always got my full deposit back.

Crazy, right?

But the person you’re about to hear from?

Well…it didn’t go so well.

Check out what they had to do when their landlord was being stingy!

When trying to get your deposit back from your landlord is like drawing blood from a stone.

“Back in 2018, I had a temporary internship in California at {insert large tech company} so I took a recommendation from a friend about a room for rent.

It would be living with 5 other people, but otherwise, it looked fantastic with spacious common areas, multiple huge TVs, full amenities, community rec center w/ pool, short drive times to multiple places of interest, all for $650/month, utilities included.

I contacted the Landlord.

He seemed fine on the phone, so I sent him my security deposit to move in a month later.

When it came time to move in, I discover a few caveats that came with this low rent price.

This place wasn’t the best…

The common areas were all dusty, none of the 3 large TVs worked properly, if we wanted access to the rec center and pool, we’d need to pay the $80/mo membership fee, and all of the ‘short drives’ time estimates were exaggerated, unless you were speeding at 2x the speed limit.

Whatever, it’s not the end of the world, especially at the relatively low price. I’ll survive.

But then it got worse in the coming months. Landlord decided to charge us an extra $20/month for ‘paper towels and public cleaning supplies.’

Landlord only checked the community mailbox once a week when he was in town and refused to trust anybody with the mailbox key.

Huh…

As it starts to roll into the summer, in June, Landlord decided that A/C costs too much and we were using too much, so he removed the thermostat from the wall. Um, ok.

One day some of us tenants confronted him when he was at the house (since Landlord also slept at the house about <1 day/week) and I’ll never forget his words as he rushed out of the house:

“It’s legal for me to do it and I don’t care since I don’t have to live here.”

Well sir, **** you.

I’m tilted at this guy’s obvious money grab from 6 tenants.

Well it turns out he’s right, he legally doesn’t need to provide air conditioning.

So, the next day I purchase a high BTU free-standing portable air conditioner that exhausts out the window.

Holy ****, this thing was luxury. Of course I pump my room to 65°F, the lowest setting.

We have a couple other minor disagreements that wind up with Landlord texting me that it’s fine if I wanted to break my lease and move out early.

Perfect.

When Landlord finally gets a whiff of my A/C setup he comes to my room to complain about my A/C unit.

I reply curtly: “It’s legal for me to do it and I don’t care since I don’t have to pay for electricity.”

He leaves and later sends me a text. Yea ok.

Unbeknownst to Landlord, I’m taking his move-out offer seriously and this whole time, I’ve been rallying the troops.

All the tenants have been upset about everyone’s living situation so with some minor encouragement, I manage to convince two of the other 6 tenants to move out at the same time as me. (They were on a month-to-month arrangement).

I finally submit all our ‘Notices of Intent to Vacate’ at the same time, barely a week after my previous conversation with Landlord. He’s mad.

He was just trying to get me out of the house but now he has 3 rooms to fill instead of just 1.

I ask about my legally mandated pre-move out inspection. In no uncertain terms he told me to go you-know-what myself.

He said he’s too busy to perform an inspection.

Hm, well that’s illegal but ok.

How about that deposit…?

Time comes to move out.

I found another room for rent much closer to the office for only $100/mo more.

We all move out and I text Landlord about my security deposit.

No response.

I text again.

No response. Ok, I see where this is going.

I spend days and days reading the law, compiling evidence/screenshots, and listing the laws that were broken.

The smoking gun was the statute that requires a pre-move-out inspection and a list of things to fix, and itemized list of deductions within 21 days or else Landlord loses the right to withhold any of my deposit.

In addition, he would be subject to treble damages if he’s found to be acting in bad faith.

I text again and again.

I give him plenty of leniency and I even cite the laws so I can prove in court that I’m acting ‘In Good Faith’ and Landlord intentionally ignored the laws that I made him aware about.

Landlord probably thinks I’m a young push-over college student who won’t follow through with legal threats.

Well sir, we’re going to court because I’m petty when it comes to people trying to screw me over.

Time to go to court!

I file in small claims for $650 plus treble damages, plus court costs.

Landlord files a counterclaim of $2000 for ‘damages to the property’ claiming I caused flooding, and I broke the microwave.

Ok buddy.

In response, I gather testimonies from 3 of the other tenants and I build my case into a 40-page packet of evidence, complete with page numbers, a table of contents, and descriptions for every screenshot and photo.

I make 3 copies of everything and submit it to the court and the defendant Landlord.

The court date is set for November and I leave the state just before Christmas so just in time to appear in person since my internship ends and I fly home in December.

He starts filing to requests to postpone the trial.

He cites a doctor’s appointment and the motion is granted.

Court date is rescheduled for month later, in December but still before I fly home.

New court date approaches and he files another request to postpone, citing another doctor’s appointment.

Somehow that motion is granted as well and we’re rescheduled yet again to January. Darn.

January rolls around and surprise surprise, guess who’s got another doctor’s appointment conveniently on the same exact day of the trial?

Denied.

The court finally got tired of his bull **** and denied the motion because he can’t prove he scheduled the doctor’s appointment prior to the court date being moved.

Welp. I’m not in CA anymore, I’m across the country on the east coast. Landlord thinks if I’m no longer in the state, he’ll automatically win since I’m not willing to fly back to CA.

Well unbeknownst to Landlord, California courts offer an option to appear by telephone. Haha.

Court day comes and I get the call. I’m sworn in and then connected to the court.

I’m given time to present my case.

Unfortunately, I didn’t prepare a script so I kinda summarize the events and explain why I deserve money.

This guy didn’t have his act together.

Then Landlord gets time to defend himself and explain his counterclaim.

He doesn’t prepare anything either and he ends up rambling about random stuff that doesn’t help his case at all.

For example, he spends a lot of time explaining how another one of the tenants was bad and so his behavior was justified.

He doesn’t even have a sliver of evidence for his counterclaim when the judge asks for it.

The judge asks a few more questions and announces that he’ll review the evidence and we’ll get the decision in the mail.

A couple weeks later, I get the judgement saying I’m owed $650, Landlord gets nothing.

Well, no treble damages for me.

However, it’s just my luck the Landlord is a piece of crap that won’t accept defeat.

He files an appeal for who-knows-what.

It’s granted. Re-do trial is scheduled for May.

This time I’m 10x more prepared.

Once again, I’m sworn in and then they connect me to the courtroom speaker.

This time I have a hashed out script that I read, making sure to emphasize how often I informed Landlord of the law, how often Landlord knowingly broke the law, and how I offered so much leniency and so many opportunities to do the right thing.

Once again, Landlord doesn’t prepare anything, but instead rambles on so much that even the judge tells him to get back on track multiple times.

Landlord claims I caused water damage and had to replace all the carpets.

The judge asks for an invoice or receipt. He has none.

This guy was full of it…

Landlord claims I broke the microwave so the judge reads him the 3 witness statements that all state I didn’t break the microwave.

Landlord says they’re all lying.

He still has no evidence whatsoever.

At this point, the judge clearly sounds done with him and says we’ll get his decision in the mail and the call ends.

A couple weeks later, I get the judgement. I’m owed $1,800 and Landlord still gets nothing.

Well, would you look at that. His appeal did not quite work out for him.

He goes from owing $650 to owing me $1,800.

Being the jerk that he is, he files for a mistrial, claiming I was not sworn in and that I lied in my testimony.

Denied.

Outside of court, Landlord offers a payment plan of $20/month which will take 7.5 years to pay back, or otherwise he refuses to pay up.

Ok, I see how collecting my money is going to be.

I figure out he banks at BoA by looking up the checks I gave him for rent and seeing where they got cashed.

I file for a writ of execution that will allow me to perform a bank levy.

The guy did it to himself!

It’s granted so I prepare a packet for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to go to BoA and take his money.

LACSD serves him with papers and orders BoA to freeze his account.

After his allotted time (30d) to contest the seizure, LACSD seizes his money, plus 10% APY interest, plus Sheriff fees.

I finally get the glorious check in the mail, 20 months after moving out. I’ll probably frame it.

Total: $1,893.91.”

Check out what folks had to say about this.

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This Reddit user spoke up.

Another reader shared a story.

Another terrible landlord story, coming in hot!

It’s like none of them will ever learn.

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