Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

In June of 2009, we evicted one of our tenants due to non-payment of rent and having a dog in the premises he occupied. His contract stated no pets allowed. The eviction went into trial and was settled. Tenant agreed to leave the premises and we will not go after them for the unpaid rent for 5 months. This year, my husband received a letter from a lawyer of another landlord for the tenant we evicted in 2009. They serve subpoena for my husband to show up to testify against this tenant. My husband only provided the eviction process and the reason why we evicted this tenant to the lawyer of this new landlord. Yesterday, we received a letter from the lawyer of our previous tenant saying that our previous tenant will sue us if we do not return their 5 months payment. On the letter, he stated that we rented a place that was illegal and by law, tenants have the rights to collect the rent payment they've made. At the eviction proceeding we did with this tenant, my husband had implied of no knowledge that the addition to the house was illegal. They are also claiming that we rented a premises with molds etc..when impact they did sign a document that the premise was handed to them in a clean and livable environment. When they left, the premise was totally a mess and it looked like they did some ritual on the premise. We found a rooster with the head cut-off, a crucifix that was turned upside down, candle wax all over the premise and dogs fesces all over. The question now is, do we have the right not to give them what they are asking - returning their rent payment. Please help.

Thank you!


Asked on 3/30/11, 1:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

While to be certain I would need to examine the written terms of the 2009 settlement, it seems that you likely do not need to return the money to them. They failed to raise those defenses previously and agreed on a settlement with you, so they are stuck with the terms of the settlement unless they could should some fraud on your behalf, which does not seem to be the situation. You could also argue that if the unit could not be legally rented out, though you would then owe them the back rent, the amount of damages they created to the premises is recoverable by you and likely exceeds the amount of rent collected. if the settlement is set aside, then you can go after them for all the rent they did not pay, and also ask for attorney fees if your contract allowed for it. As to the mold you might in addition be able to argue they are barred from raising that issue as they waited too long so that the evidence is now too late to be produced. With their odd behavior, the trier of fact will not favor them.

More likely than not, their lawyer is trying to see if he can scare you into giving up some of the rent they paid and to punish your husband for providing information as to the other rent case. You probably need an attorney to write back that you owe nothing and that you will cross-complain for all the rent unpaid and damages done.

On advice of counsel, quietly try to find out if the unit is to code and thus legal.

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Answered on 3/30/11, 4:04 pm


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