Landlords Who Unjustly Keep Rent Deposits Would Be Penalized Under California Proposal

By Dennis Romero Mon., Mar. 18 2013 at 11:50 AM

Categories: Law

turkeychic / Flickr

Ever had a landlord just keep your deposit without any real good reason?

Yeah, everybody has. And there's not much you can do about it.

Today California Sen. Mark Leno announced that he's introducing legislation that would hit landlords with potentially higher penalties when a court finds they improperly withheld your cash:

And these days that can be a lot of cash.

Leno notes that, with first-and-last month's deposits reaching $5,000 and beyond, renters can be swindled out of a lot of money without much recourse.

Indeed, the group Tenants Together found that 60 percent of its members had experienced all or some of their deposits vanishing, allegedly without valid reasons.

According to Leno's office, the bill, SB 603, ...

... requires landlords to place deposits in a separate account, pay interest on those deposits to a tenant and pay penalties if a court determines they improperly withheld a deposit.

According to our reading of the bill's language, it would lift the lid on current law, which says judges can award tenants an amount equal to double their security deposits in cases where the cash was unlawfully withheld.

Under Leno's rule there would be no upper limit on damages, so long as the an amount equal to the deposit was awarded as a minimum in successful cases.

Quinn Dombrowski / Flickr

Leno:

One the biggest complaints California's 15 million renters voice when a lease ends is that they have little recourse in dealing with a landlord who refuses to return their deposits. At a time when deposits can be $5,000 or more, the failure to pay interest or properly return a security deposit can be a significant and unnecessary financial burden on many renters. SB 603 protects tenants in this situation by encouraging landlords to return security deposits in a timely manner, as required by law.

Of course, we think landlords who rob tenants should be treated like thieves and sent to jail like the felonious, grand-theft scum bags they are. But this is a start.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

deposit, law, legislation, Mark Leno, rent

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ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

Could do as is done in Texas ... If the landlord does not respond within 30 days either refunding the deposit in full or providing a detailed accounting as to why the full deposit is not being refunded, then the landlord must refund the entire deposit.

Also in Texas, landlord must do an exit inspection upon request when the tenant has vacated the apartment.

scottzwartz topcommenter

1 Like

Before Prop 64, it was relatively easy to stop landlords. All one needed was one person to find out that a landlord was withholding rent and that person could sue and force the landlord to repay everyone's deposit plus inetrest for the last four (4) years plus get an injunction preventing him from doing it in the future and make the landlord pay the attorney fees and costs.

When the voters learned that the attorneys, who sued the landlords to get back the withheld deposits, were also getting the courts to require the landlords to pay their atty fees, the public rose up in ire that the attorneys who had helped hundreds of people get their moneyw ere actually so greedy as to ask the crooked landlords to pay the attorney fees, that the public repealed that portion of the law. Now the attorneys cannot be paid and WOW Guess what, attorneys don't take these cases anyone.

So now the landlords know that no one can afford to hire an attorney to get back their wrongfully withheld deposits so more and more landlords just keep all the money and say, "So sue me" as they slam the door in the tenant's face.

Christine Norris

Or go on The People's Court.

Glen En

I sued my last landlord. The law is pretty simple: they cannot deduct for painting even if your lease says so. Because they didn't respond to my return receipt requests for my deposit, I sued for "bad faith" and two and a half times the deposit. Best advice: always take photos before and after the rental.

scottzwartz topcommenter

@Glen En Nice that you sued for Bad faith except there is no such thing as commercial bad faith. Did your statute allow for additional penalties?

Erik Brasher

Every landlord i have EVER had has been some nightmare with getting my deposit back. Most of the time I have lost at least a portion of the deposit, with or without court, house or apartment, the only way to stop it from happening is to not pay the last month of rent.

Jackie Lynn Perez

I love how this article ended, I wish landlords would get sent to jail. I successfully withheld rent for 6 months from a landlord once, damn did that feel good. Especially when she and her girlfriend showed up at my door and I told her the fuck off and made her look real stupid in front of her lady. She said, "I don't want to hear this legal mumbo jumbo" to which I replied, "I don't want to hear this 'rent' mumbo jumbo talk either" WINNING

David A Rosenthal

Yes.. but not in CA.

Ed Kim

Another cool thing about rent deposits? You make interest income on it! Time value of money baby!

Jackie Lynn Perez

Working on a lawsuit for mine back right now

Ed Kim

As a landlord you keep rent deposits for so long that you start thinking that the deposit money is your money and not money you are holding for the tenant. Happens to the best of us (but has never happened to me).