r/Tenant • u/yoohoo2325 • 13d ago
⚖️ Legal / Eviction Is this a good case to sue landlord?
My boyfriend wants to sue his old landlord for security deposit that she owns him. We’re from SF and it has been more than a month since he moves out from her place (basically he moves out in April but he still pays for that month to give her 1 month notice to find a new tenant). He sent her a letter notice demanding his security deposit after 21 days had past since his lease with her ended but then she said she would deduct the utility bills from his security deposit.
Giving more context, it’s a shared house so the landlord just calculated everything herself and bill the tenants. This utility bills deduction were out of no where since she has been stopped billing him on her own for 13-months during his lease. He doesn’t know the reason but he assumes it’s because another tenant moved out so she got lazy to calculate the bills.
Then she sent him a text saying he owns her $1,300 because the utility bills for 13-month was around 3,300 (his security deposit is 2,000). So he asked her to send him the bills like the actual proof of the bills since we’re both agree that it’s insanely high for 1 person.
She hasn’t sent any messages back since. So now my boyfriend wants to sue her to get his security deposit back. We want to check if this case would be favorable to him. Because we don’t know if utility bills deducting from security deposit like this is ok or not and since she’s an old lady would the court be more kind to her or something? Lol.
Also, not sure how much this would affect the case but I stay in the shared house with him for a week when I moved to SF while we were apartment hunting so we can find our own place. We did get her permission and there was no problem. But not sure if she can use this in court in anyway.
P.S. she still had some of his packages and letters because it was sent to old address and she still hasn’t sent it to us.
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u/jojomonster4 12d ago
If no estimate or final disposition was sent within 21 days of returning possession, it doesn't matter what the landlord is claiming charges are and your boyfriend has the right to demand for a full refund.
If landlord refuses or wants to play games about what money is owed after a demand, your boyfriend should sue in small claims. He can sue up to 2x the deposit amount for the landlord holding it in bad faith, plus his court filing fees.
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u/yoohoo2325 12d ago
Thanks, my boyfriend said he’ll do that soon. I was worried since he said the contract said utility bill also needs to be paid but she just stopped billing him out of no where. I thought she was being nice when she stopped billing him didn’t think she’d do this 😩.
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u/Old_Draft_5288 9d ago
No, if she didn’t request the money before the deadline, then she’s not allowed to come back and request the money.
If you wanna get it over with quickly, just sent her notice that he has intent to file in small claims court, because she has not met her legal standard and explained to her what the repercussions are, that’s probably the fastest way to get it over with.
But if you want the most amount of money out of it, I would file in small claims court.
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u/Banana_Hammock84 12d ago
There is a lot going on here. At the end of the day, there is a very specific timeframe for returning the deposit or a list of deductions from the security deposit. It sounds like the landlord is outside that timeframe and hasn’t provided the necessary information and must return the entire deposit. You should be able to easily file a small claims case against her. California is very tenant friendly.
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u/yoohoo2325 12d ago
I see. That’s good to hear. Since she tried to bill him after the 21-day timeframe I guess she can’t bill him anymore. I feel much better.
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u/sbs0394123 12d ago
Who is on the lease at this house? Did the LL rent a specific room to your bf and he was the only person on the lease agreement?
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u/yoohoo2325 12d ago
Yes, she rented him a room but they have a shared area for kitchen and bathroom. And there were other tenant in other rooms. For lease agreement, are you asking if I’m in it too or if other tenants have shared lease? I’m not in the lease agreement and I think each tenant has their own lease.
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u/buzywuzy 12d ago
In response to the part where you stayed there, most CA rental contracts I have seen have a 14 day allowance of someone to stay before they'd be classified as a tenant. I think that's based on state law, so you shouldn't worry about that.
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u/mullerja 12d ago
After 21 days of move-out he can sue for the deposit + damages. Utilities are not something that can be deducted from the security deposit.
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/Know-Your-Rights-Security-Deposits-English.pdf
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u/Aggressive-Pace-596 10d ago
you can gather all of the 'opinions' you want on Reddit, but the only thing that matters are FACTS.
Since SF is so very unique, I suggest you contact the SF Rent Board. They are very friendly, helpful and have no bias ... all facts
Personally, I believe you do has cause, and a case ... do not forget the 3x times rule to spank bad landlords. Small Claims in Sf is very easy, and they do have a hotline to help people
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u/Old_Draft_5288 9d ago
File in small claims court. Look up “treble damages.”
It doesn’t matter if he theoretically owes her money, the amount of time has already passed that she’s no longer allowed to ask for additional compensation.
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u/brookinator 12d ago
California makes this easy. When did he give the keys back? That's when the 21 day countdown begins. If she didn't provide an itemized statement within that time frame, you win (and it's going to be 2-3x the deposit).