Return deposit questions?

[Frustrated renter]

Jurisdiction

California

I rented a house for 2 years 3 months in California. How much can my old landlord charge for painting? I was sent a bill for $580 from the contractor and the owner charged me $300 for painting??? Instead of a refund of my deposit I was sent a list of charges and was in the -$189 28 days after I moved out. Which is strange because the house was put up for rent and rented 3-5 days after I moved out! What do I do now?

 

[adjusterjack]

First of all, your question has absolutely nothing to do with constitutional law or civil rights, but you might as well stay in this thread and I'll answer your question.

According to the California landlord tenant law a tenant can only be charged for damage and not wear and tear so the first part of your issue needs an explanation of exactly why painting was required after you moved out.

Was there damage to the walls? Big holes from nails? Excessive dirt or stains on the walls? Anything like that?

Were the walls in the same condition when you left as they were when you first moved in?

Do you have photos to show the condition at beginning and end?

Once you've answered those questions, we move on to the amount of the charges. $880 is not a lot of money to repaint the interior of even a small house. As for the two bills, it's possible that the landlord bought the paint and hired the contractor to paint or that the landlord did a lot of the prep work and is charging you for his labor as well as for the contractor.

That the house was re-rented a few days after you moved out has nothing to do with the amount of time the landlord has to send you the itemization and refund. He could have had the painting done right away.

Unfortunately for your landlord, the statute says 21 days, not 28 days, so you might have a remedy there just for the delay.

California Civil Code 1950.5(g) explains all that. It's about 3/4 of the way down the page at the following link:

CA Codes (civ:1940-1954.1)

There is also a good landlord tenant guide published by the state that you should read, too:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf

If you decide that the charges are excessive and that the landlord violated the statute your option is to sue in small claims court for the entire deposit back along with any allowable penalties.

The California court website has a very good self-help section on small claims:

Small Claims - small_claims_selfhelp

I've given you all the resources that you need to avoid being taken advantage of by landlords. For the future the best advice I can give you, wherever you rent, is to photograph the place up one side and down the other when you move in and when you move out. With a cheap digital camera you can take hundreds of photos at both ends and store them on your computer, back up drive, or USB drive.