Landlord may be getting carried away with cleaning penalty
Question: I am buying a house set to close escrow in December, but my lease doesn’t expire until May 2007. My landlord wants me to pay the rent through the end of the lease, an advertisement fee of at least $600 and a cleaning fee penalty for early termination. I tried to negotiate, but she insists that I have to pay all this. Is this legal?
Answer: Your landlord is a little overzealous in her requests. Although you can be liable for the rent until the end of the lease term, the landlord must make good-faith efforts to rent the apartment after you move out. If she makes no effort, your rent liability ends 30 days from the time you give notice to vacate. If she makes the effort and lets the apartment before your lease is up, she can collect rent from you only until the new tenant starts paying it. At that point, your rent liability ends.
The landlord can charge you for her advertising costs; however, she can only charge you her actual expenses. If she spends $600 -- and that seems a reasonable amount -- this is a legitimate expense.
However, the cleaning fee penalty is not legal. While landlords can collect costs to get apartments back to the level of cleanliness that existed when tenants moved in, they cannot charge cleaning fee penalties, nor can they charge if apartments are as clean when renters move out as when they moved in.
On this lot, garage rents separately
Question: I have lived in a rent-controlled house for six years. When we signed the lease, there was a separate agreement for the garage. Since then, the owner has raised the rent on the garage more than on the apartment. Is it legal to separate the garage from the apartment even though they are on the same lot? Is the garage under rent control?
Answer: Garages are not under rent control unless they are included with the unit at the time you lease the apartment. When you sign a separate agreement for a garage, parking space or storage locker, you generally are required to pay the market rent for them. If you no longer need or want the garage, or don’t want to pay for its use, you can give notice, usually 30 days, and discontinue using it.
File it under ‘too much information’
Question: Do I have the right to know how much the landlord charges other tenants in my building on their annual increases? I got a 9% rent increase and am wondering if others got or will be getting the same.
Answer: There is nothing in state or local law requiring apartment owners to give this information to their renters unless they want to. It really isn’t relevant to your tenancy.
Four months later, and still no refund
Question: I moved out of my apartment almost four months ago, and I still haven’t gotten my security deposit back. I’ve asked the manager about it several times, but she just gives me the runaround. How can I contact the owner of the building and get my money back?
Answer: Within three weeks after you turned over possession to the manager and moved out of the apartment, you should have received either a full refund of your deposit, a partial refund with a written breakdown of how the balance was used (for cleaning, repairs or unpaid rent) or no refund with a written explanation of how the deposit money was used.
Apparently, you have received none of the above. After four months, it seems unlikely that you will get a refund short of going to court. You can find out who the owner is and sue for the return of your deposit in Small Claims Court. Go to the nearest tax assessor’s office and look up the owner using the address of the property. You also may be able to look it up online. Call the county assessor’s office for more information.
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