Death Is No Excuse for Tenant’s Failure to Give 30-Day Notice

MILL VALLEY, Calif. — A landlord can keep the security deposit of a tenant who failed to give 30 days notice because he died, a small claims court commissioner has ruled.

The dispute arose a year ago after James Pflugradt died of a heart attack in his Mill Valley residence. His son, Rick Pflugradt of Corte Madera, cleared out his father’s belongings five days after the death.

The son agreed to pay a $310 apartment cleaning bill out of his father’s $825 deposit.

But landlord Fred Padula insisted on keeping the entire amount because the tenant had failed to give him the required 30 days notice.

Rick Pflugradt went to court, saying the action sent his “faith in the human race to an all-time low.”

But in court, Padula’s agent, Lance Newton, said the deposit was necessary to pay rent while the landlord looked for a new tenant, and was part of the contract.

Court Commissioner Randolph Heubach agreed in his ruling Wednesday.

“I am not unsympathetic,” he said, but added: “It is really a straightforward financial situation.”