Tenant leaves without notice and leaves garbage behind

[Jak Dadi]

We had a tenant who could not afford to pay his rent and so left the apartment without giving any notice. He had been living in the unit since 1984 and we acquired the place in August 2010. He left the apt totally filthy and left a lot of things for us to haul after him. It has been 45 days since he left the apt. I talked to him on the phone and indicated that he owes us one month's rent and cleaning and hauling charges. His deposit was $200 (back from 1984) and unfortunately we never had his deposit marked up in 2010. Can I still go after him for the rent and 400 in cleaning charges and 100 for hauling charges. Within how many days should I be sending the letter to him. How many days before i can send his account to collection?

[Jeff S.]

See: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/sec-deposit.shtml

Under California law, 21 calendar days or less after you move, your landlord must either:
• Send you a full refund of your security deposit, or
• Mail or personally deliver to you an itemized statement that lists the amounts of any deductions from your security deposit and the reasons for the deductions, together with a refund of any amounts not deducted.

If you did not do this Jak, you blew the statute and there’s little you can do anymore. In fact, it’s conceivable the tenant could go after you for his $200.

Better yet, since I suspect you’re new at landlording, you might consider the following books that you can check out from the library:
Landlording, 11th Edition: A Handymanual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves
also
California Landlord's Law Book: Rights & Responsibilities