What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
Landlord is withholding our security deposit on the basis that we did not return our second set of house keys. She also has not provided any itemized list of costs for deductions. There are now only 3 days remaining until the end of the 21 day period as given by CA law.
We officially vacated the unit on the afternoon of Oct. 31, 2014. Landlord came in the morning at our designated walk-thru time. We did not do the walk-thru because I still moving the last of my stuff out. But I did return 2 sets of house keys to her. She stood there and waited as I removed both sets of keys from my and my partner's keychains. It was deemed that she would have to replace one corner of the carpet and have a professional cleaning crew go through the place - which is fine because she was just going to deduct the charges from the security deposit and send me the remainder.
Fast forward to the morning of 11/13/2014, the LL told me she was going to send my security deposit via certified mail. Later during the same day LL emails and texts me saying she went through the inspection check off list and noticed we did not give her the 2nd set of keys. The problem with this is we were not present for that official inspection, we never saw a check list, and we GAVE her all the keys 2 weeks prior. At this point I reminded her that we gave her back all the keys PLUS I was still waiting on her to give me an itemized list of costs for repairs/cleaning. But, even if she did not have both sets of keys back, that is not enough to hold our security deposit.
If she still does not mail out my security deposit after the 21 days,
Do I have grounds to take her to small claims court?
How much can I sue her for?
How do I prove that she acted in bad faith?
Any advice or help would be appreciated, thank you in advance!
Landlord is withholding our security deposit on the basis that we did not return our second set of house keys. She also has not provided any itemized list of costs for deductions. There are now only 3 days remaining until the end of the 21 day period as given by CA law.
We officially vacated the unit on the afternoon of Oct. 31, 2014. Landlord came in the morning at our designated walk-thru time. We did not do the walk-thru because I still moving the last of my stuff out. But I did return 2 sets of house keys to her. She stood there and waited as I removed both sets of keys from my and my partner's keychains. It was deemed that she would have to replace one corner of the carpet and have a professional cleaning crew go through the place - which is fine because she was just going to deduct the charges from the security deposit and send me the remainder.
Fast forward to the morning of 11/13/2014, the LL told me she was going to send my security deposit via certified mail. Later during the same day LL emails and texts me saying she went through the inspection check off list and noticed we did not give her the 2nd set of keys. The problem with this is we were not present for that official inspection, we never saw a check list, and we GAVE her all the keys 2 weeks prior. At this point I reminded her that we gave her back all the keys PLUS I was still waiting on her to give me an itemized list of costs for repairs/cleaning. But, even if she did not have both sets of keys back, that is not enough to hold our security deposit.
If she still does not mail out my security deposit after the 21 days,
Do I have grounds to take her to small claims court?
How much can I sue her for?
How do I prove that she acted in bad faith?
Any advice or help would be appreciated, thank you in advance!
