End of Lease question

I am in California, My lease is up on October 31st. I do not trust my landlod to give me back my deposit, with out it it will be impossible to get into a new place. She already gave a bad reference to a poteintal land lord, causing us to not get into a new place. We told her to keep our deposit for Octobers rent. at the time she didn't say yes or no. I just received a letter in the mail saying rent needs to be paid by tomorrow the 17th or she will get her attorney involved. It's our last month, besides a "bad reference" can this situation turn into an eviction or bad debt on our credit report. Rent was due on the 10th of october today is the 16th Technically it's only 6 day's past due. What is our rights? Based upon the bad refernce and how she has been acting we have every reason to believe she will try to with hold our deposit.

Can this turn into an eviction or bad debt on a credit report?

It sure can.

Landlords do not like to use security deposits for last months rent. If the tenant leaves the unit damaged the landlord has no monetary pillow to fall back on.

Your rights are that you need to pay the rent by tomorrow. If you think her references have kept you from other rental units, imagine what an eviction or judgement on your credit report will look like to future landlords.

Gail

How long does the "eviction" process take. The house is not trashed. We are leaving it in better condition than when we got it. (I know all renters say this, but in this case it's true)

I just can not afford to pay it all tomorrow, I am going to deposit what I can, the best I can do, I have tried calling LL tonight she's not answering (the first time in 11 months I have not been able to get a hold of her) and trying to work this out with out going through legal action.

There are several steps a landlord has to take to get a complete eviction. How long this takes depends both on the state and how busy the court system is.

Even if you move out before the eviction process is through, the landlord can file against you for owed rent.

Gail

If I am unable to get it caught up by the end of the month, will I have the ability to rectify the monies owed before a judgement is applied to my Credit report, I am trying to work this out.

California is often considered to be a very tenant friendly state. The landlord has to follow very specific guidelines on the process of evicting someone. The attached article gives an overview of this process:

http://www.kinseylaw.com/LAWLIB/realpr/evictlaw.html

The landlord first has to present you with a notice that is often called a "Pay or Quit" notice or "Notice to Vacate"; the length of these varies. If you do not respond to this, then their next legal step is filing for an eviction. If the landlord actually goes through filing for the "unlawful detainer" you will be given a notice of this (typically served by an officer of the court). If you do nothing the eviction will proceed. If you answer this (and it will specify the number of days you have to do this) then a hearing will be set up where you both present your sides to a judge and he/she will decide if the eviction should occur.

If you have the rent money by this time (and many tenants will, especially if the reason they have not been able to pay is due to a short term issue) than the court will likely accept the rent (along with any late fees and court costs) and you will win the judgement. This should not appear on your credit report.

Gail

Thank you so much for your information, just one more question. Technically my lease is up October 31st, we are leaving in little over a week any ways. The course of action I have taken at this time is to send her a certified letter requesting a pre-move out inspection in good faith that we may rectify any damage and the second formal request is for LL to use money from the security/damage deposit for any unpaid monies for Octobers rent. based upon this do you see LL taking it further.
I would assume based upon the article you posted it said "Unless your tenant moves out voluntarily, you must go through the legal process to evict him or her" We are leaving in 10 days. we are taking care of any damage (which there is none) to the house, and we are giving "our" money in the form of the s/d desposit to cover unpaid rent.

THANK YOU again for giving of your time and expertise to help me in a situation where I obviously can not afford to obtain one.

Isn't this what you wanted to do initially; use the security deposit to pay for the last months rent as you feared you wouldn't receive this after you vacated the unit?

Your landlord can agree to this or not. The letter you received demanding that you pay October's rent is an indication that she did not agree to the use of the security deposit for this purpose. Why would she agree to this now?

You need to understand that the security deposit is not "your" money in the sense that you get to choose how it will be used. Your landlord can still file against you for October's rent. And she is more likely to find damages (even though you claim there are none) after you vacate the unit.

I hate to say this but what is sounds like you are trying to do is use the security deposit as rent for October and then leave, leaving no forwarding address with the idea that the landlord will not be able to find you to file a lawsuit over this matter.

Gail

Gail in Georgia said:

Landlords do not like to use security deposits for last months rent. If the tenant leaves the unit damaged the landlord has no monetary pillow to fall back on.

Gail

Click to expand...

Does this mean that if the landlord uses the entire security deposit for last month's rent, that the landlord cannot charge the tenant for any damages to the apartment?

No; although in order to get these funds the landlord is likely going to have to sue the former tenant.

Gail

Gail,

Thanks for the clarification.