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I am posting this for a friend of mine.
My friend (person A) and her boyfriend (person B) moved into an
apartment in San Franciso. At that time, she paid $1850 for half of the
security deposit. A year later, she subleted the apartment to a friend
of her boyfriends (person C), because her job was taking her out of town
for an indefinite amount of time. Well, eventually they broke up, so
they sent a letter signed by both of them to the landlord ending the
lease with 30 days notice. A few days later, her ex-boyfriend sent a
letter to the landlord saying he wanted to continue living in the
apartment with the sublettor. To summarize,
2001: Persons A and B sign a month to month lease, and both contribute
$1850 for security deposit
2002: Person A sublets the apartment to person C, without asking for any
security deposit
2003: Persons A and B send a letter signed by both to the landlord
terminating the lease at the end of the month
2003: Person B sends a letter to the landlord saying Persons B and C
would like to continue living in the apartment
Person A is living out of town, and would like to recover the security
deposit she paid. She has tried negotiating with persons B and C, but
is not currently on speaking terms with either. It has been more than
90 days since she moved out.
The landlord refuses to refund any security deposit, claims the lease
has not ended, and person A's recourse should be against person B or C.
Person B claims A owes him money for unrelated items, and is not
willing to return any security deposit, even after the lease ends.
Person C claims no security deposit was required when he signed the
sublease, and is unwilling to pay one now.
My personal feeling (I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any legal
training) is that A and B properly terminated the lease, and B cannot
unilaterally re-commit A to the old lease after the fact. B and C have
a new lease, which has nothing to do with A. I told her she should try
to get the security deposit back from the landlord, but they have
refused to budge. Persons B, C and the landlord know she is living out
of town, so it is hard to file in small claims court, and attorneys fees
would total more than the amount of the security deposit. In addition,
person B states he intends to keep the entire security deposit when he
eventually moves out.
Who should my friend try to collect from?
She would rather deal with the landlord than the ex-boyfriend or the
sublettor. Would she be able to get triple damages from the landlord if
things eventually wind up in court?
Are there any other alternatives? She doesn't want to file an out of
state lawsuit, be forced to fly in to San Francisco, and have most of
the security deposit eaten by travel costs and attorney fees. On the
other hand, $1850 is a good amount of money to her.
Thanks in advance for your time and effort. I have copies of the lease
and all letters if additional information is needed.
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lhong <lhong@swbell.n.e.t> wrote:
I am posting this for a friend of mine.
Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one before.
My friend (person A) and her boyfriend (person B) moved into an
apartment in San Franciso. At that time, she paid $1850 for
half of the security deposit. A year later, she subleted the
apartment to a friend of her boyfriends (person C), because her
job was taking her out of town for an indefinite amount of time.
Well, eventually they broke up, so they sent a letter signed by
both of them to the landlord ending the lease with 30 days
notice. A few days later, her ex-boyfriend sent a letter to the
landlord saying he wanted to continue living in the apartment
with the sublettor.
Person A is living out of town, and would like to recover the
security deposit she paid. She has tried negotiating with
persons B and C, but is not currently on speaking terms with
either. It has been more than 90 days since she moved out.
The landlord refuses to refund any security deposit, claims the
lease has not ended, and person A's recourse should be against
person B or C.
Person B claims A owes him money for unrelated items, and is not
willing to return any security deposit, even after the lease
ends. Person C claims no security deposit was required when he
signed the sublease, and is unwilling to pay one now.
I agree with you that the lease was terminated, and the landlord
should give back at least her half of the deposit. On the other
hand, B and C are benefiting from her payment of the deposit.
The only way to force someone to pay when they don't want to is to
sue them. Small claims court would be a good way to go, and I'd sue
both the tenants and the landlord, and let the court decide who
should pay her.
Small claims court in San Francisco is pretty good in one way. If
your friend plans to visit the city at some point in the next year
or two, she can pretty much pick the day of the court hearing.
Check with the court for details.
It is possible that one of the defendants might ask for a
continuance of the hearing. That might screw up your friend's
travel plans and cost her more. If that happens, she should ask the
judge either to deny the continuance, or make that person pay her
costs of flying out again as a condition of granting it.
Stu
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In article <fn6mnvkuqi5q8gs2c2aopbbobt5ccpkpg3@4ax.com>,
Stuart O. Bronstein <stu@lexregia.com> wrote:
lhong <lhong@swbell.n.e.t> wrote:
The landlord refuses to refund any security deposit, claims the
lease has not ended, and person A's recourse should be against
person B or C.
I agree with you that the lease was terminated, and the landlord
should give back at least her half of the deposit.
The only way to force someone to pay when they don't want to is to
sue them.
Doesn't California (still) have the law specifying triple damages if a
landlord doesn't return a security deposit in some specified (short)
time? Getting a CA lawyer to write the landlord a letter mentioning
that might get the landlord to act, to save $3700 in extra damages.
Seth
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