Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Money paid to rentee for property

Hello, in November '06 my fiance and I acquired a home in Georgia (Lease to buy) type of deal, the owner wanted to sell the furniture in the home such as(bed, night stand, leather couch & 42in Sony flat screen) for $13,000.00, mind you all this furniture was purchased around Oct '05. We asked for receipts of purchase but she never produced them. So my fiance decided to purchase the couch and tv (only) so we gave the owner a cashier's for $5,000 (this transction took place in Los Angeles) in September '06. We were due to move in the house Nov '06 upon our arrival, the owner took all the furniture out of the house and still kept the $5,000. We filed a small claim lawsuit against her in Los Angeles, for the $5k we are due to go to court 2/2. My question is we pay our monthly lease of $3400, we have paid Nov, Dec & Jan, she has not yet put the January's payment through our account yet and I am thinking about putting a stop payment on the check until we go to court which will leave her to only owe us a balance of $1600.00. Would we be in our legal right to do so or should we let the court handle it?


Asked on 1/10/07, 3:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Carl Starrett Law Offices of Carl H. Starrett II

Re: Money paid to rentee for property

By withholding the rent before a small claims judge has ruled on your claim, you could be setting yourself up for an eviction. If you when in court and the judgment becomes final, there are legal ways to accomplish your goal. A local collection attorney can give more detailed information.

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Answered on 1/10/07, 3:20 pm


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