Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Hello I have a question my mother owns her own house she is 88 yrs old and does not file taxes. She is on social security. She rented a room out to someone for a few months this year who paid 100 deposit but upon moving left the place very filthy dirty so we refused to give her the deposit moneys. However she continues to hound me for it I am my mothers agent and I to,d her no now she threatens to file with her attorney a renters credit to get it back in california. We never ever had problems like this and because my mother does not file taxes what should I proceed to do? Thank you for your time


Asked on 10/21/14, 7:11 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

Paying taxes is totally irrelevant to your problem.

California Civil Code section 1950.5 governs the security deposit used for a residential dwelling. Basically, the landlord must give an itemized statement to the tenant within 21 days (in writing) that shows why the deposit was not returned. A landlord's failure to do so results in a forfeiture of the security deposit to the tenant who moved out.

A copy of the statute is here: http://housing.ucsc.edu/cro/pdf/CCC_security-deposits.pdf

If you are going to be helping your mother as her agent in landlord tenant matters, I suggest you familiarize yourself with that statute.

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Answered on 10/21/14, 9:33 am


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