Landlord Charging too much from security deposit

[Noam Ofan]

Hi there,

I have a friend who just moved out of a rental and his landlord charged him for cleaning and repairs down to the penny. The PM of this landlord gave his opinion which is - everything was left in great condition and all repairs are normal wear and tear. They lived in that unit for almost 3 years.

The landlord insists all repairs are damages and not wear and tear even though his own PM says it's wear and tear.

CA is very pro-tenant, so what option does my friend have? Court? if so, is it small claims court?

Any other entities he can file a complaint against his landlord with?

Any advice would be very appreciated.

Thank you!

[Dan H.]

Originally posted by @Noam Ofan:

@K T.  -  There was a Bali blind that had 1 string broken (out of 10 blinds in the unit). Landlord ordered a new blind instead of fixing that broken string - $470...

Wall repair from small nail holes and some crew holes - $850

a couple of spots where the concrete floor was chipped - $300

Deep cleaning of oven and shower - $260

I should say - tenants cleaned the place pretty well, but not deep clean oven and shower like a professional crew, and they lived there for nearly 3 years.

The lease ended as it was month to month and PM and land received more than a 30 day notice and tenants actually moved out and cleaned a week before end of the month... 

 I do not consider the items listed wear and tear items but I find the charges to not be reasonable.

Small nail and screw holes are not wear and tear.  However, the cost for the picture holes is absurd.  We typically do not charge for those holes for tenants with extended stays (3 years is an extended stay) and do charge tenants who have not stayed as long.  When we do charge, it is ~$50 depending on size and number of holes but for $50 we can repair a lot of little holes (this should get about an hour of hole repairs even at coastal So Cal handyman labor prices).

The chips in the concrete is not normal wear and tear.  I suspect my cost to repair would be less than 50% of the price requested.  I would likely charge for this repair.  Maybe $100 but possibly $150.

The oven and shower should be in similar clean state as at move-in as dirt is never a wear and tear item.  The issue I have is with the cost they are claiming.  I would say that is about the cost I would charge for a shower and oven that was disgusting.  If the oven and shower were almost in move-in clean, and the tenant had lived there 3 years, I would not charge them to get it to move-in condition but would charge them if they were a shorter term tenant.

I am not sure what Bali shades go for but if a clean repair can be made then the repair should be made over replacement.

I suspect if they were my tenant they would probably be looking at $100 (maybe $150) charge for the concrete repair.  I would probably absorb the other costs for a 3 year tenant especially if the blind could be easily and cleanly repaired.

I suggest not trying to claim the items are normal wear and tear (chipped concrete, dirty oven, picture holes are not wear and tear) but instead indicate the costs are unreasonable.  I suspect the LL would be lucky to get costs 25% of what is claimed.

Good luck to your friend.