Question for the landlords here about deposit money.

[David J.]

Hi

How much of his deposit would you return?

I have a SFH where I rent rooms. (I don't live there by I live near and stop in often)

Anyway, I gave one of the tenants a 60 day eviction. He did nothing wrong, I just need the room. 60 days are up OCT 28th 2017

I told him that if he left sooner I would prorate the rent. For example if he left before the 1st no rent due in Oct. If he leaves on the 10th only 10 days of rent due. (seems fair)

He decides that he will leave Sept 30 to avoid any new rents due. On the 1st he's still there. I can see him on the multiple cameras I have in the home. I ask him if he's still planning to move out, thinking maybe he just needed 1 extra day.

He tells me that he's ALREADY out but is waiting there for me to come do the inspection with him and return his deposit. I apologize for perhaps not making it clear enough but explain to him that I will be doing the inspection alone once he is out and the keys are returned. I then advise him to take pictures if he needs to.

He decides that he will hold the home hostage until I meet with him in person to do the inspection. I let him know, ok that's fine but told him he would have to pay rent for any additional days he stays in the home. He then tells me that he's already out and that he will continue to stay there as a guest of the other tenants. (of course he can't name which one exactly)

I pretty much ignored that. He then tells me that he has a right to a pre-inspection under California law. I let him know that one can't ask for a pre-inspection if they are already out. Suddenly he says he's not out. Okay, then you will be paying rent for any additional days in the home. After a bit he goes back to being out of the home. He says "my official last day was Aug 30 and I am totally out of the home"

Then all of sudden he unplugs ALL of the cameras in the home. I call the police, let them know what was going on then hurried over to the property.

I find that he is not there but all the cameras are unplugged and the water on 2 sinks and the tub was left on full blast with the bathroom door locked. The water was on for about 3 hours before I discovered it and could turn it off. I went ahead and did the inspection and discovered that mostly everything was fine. However, he apparently locked himself out of his room once and busted the door jam getting back in then tried to repair it. He did a fairly decent repairing the damage using caulking but still a crack is visible slightly where he busted it. Most people wouldn't notice.

Also no keys were found at all. There is a $200 fee for keys not returned per the rental contract to pay for locks to be changed.

I changed the locks.

All of that to ask, what would you do? ******************

He wants his full $595 deposit returned.