Statue of limitations

My husband and I were sent a letter from our landlord's daughter (also an attorney) to either leave the premises or pay late rent due along with late charges. If we chose to stay the rent was going to be raised. We chose to move in the middle of the month and agreed that we owed the landlord a half month rent with late charges. We never asked for our security deposit as we assumed it could be put toward the money owed.

Upon moving out the landlord decided to put the house on the market for sale and made many repairs to do so. We were contacted 3 and a half months later letting us know that we were responsible for all of the repairs totalling over $10,000. I asked for an itemized list for review.This included things like pest control (a problem we contuously dealt with), new carpets and kitchen flooring (which we had replaced a year previous), new paint (which we had just done less than 6 months prior) and housecleaning bills. These charges are completely out of whack as we kept the property well maintained.

We have been threatened to have suit filed against us in the Superior Court and have now been served (over a year later from leaving the premises) with a complaint filed in the Superior Court.

Does the landlord still have right to seek money for unecessary repairs? Even if the house was sold within two months of our leaving? Please advise.

 

The complaint was just filed 13 months after we have moved out. Isn't there some sort of time frame for the landlord? We were never even notified that they were seeking money from us until 3 1/2 months after we moved. I know in California the time period is 21 days. If anyone can clarify this for us we could really use the advice. Thanks!