Cashing Security Deposit check

[lljnapa]

California ~
When a tenant cashes their Security Deposit Refund Check, does that constitute an agreement with the amount of deposit returned?
I (the landlord) am being sued in Small Claims Court by this tenant over the amount of the deposit they received back after they vacated the premises and other circumstances. Shouldn't they have held on to the un-cashed check until after the court date?
Does their cashing the check eliminate that portion of the court case?
Awaiting your reply, and thank you!

 

[LL]

Your posting is a little difficult to understand.

So you gave the tenants a refund of security. Did you give back the entire security, or only part of it?

Now you are being sued. Are you being sued for the entire security after you refunded the entire security, or are you being sued for the part of the security that you did not return? Or, are there any other issues for which the tenant thinks that he should be paid?

In any case, whatever the judge decides, he will take into account the amount of security that you returned, and that the tenant cashed. Bring your cancelled check to court to show the judge that it was refunded. If the judge thinks that you owe more, he will issue a judgement for the additional amount.

If you sent back the entire deposit, the tenant cashed it, and the suit and the check cashing overlapped, then write to the tenant pointing out that you sent the entire deposit back, and asking him to drop the suit.

In any case, I suggest that you write to the tenant (plaintiff) pointing out the amount you sent back, and asking if there are any issues remaining to be resolved. If there are, try to resolve them before court.

 

[LL]

I re-read your posting, especially the line that says:
"When a tenant cashes their Security Deposit Refund Check, does that constitute an agreement with the amount of
deposit returned? "

Is that your question?

The answer is NO, cashing the check does NOT constitute any agreement to accept that amount as final. Don't even try that argument, the judge will not be impressed.

If that were true, it would mean that you gave the tenant the choice of accepting what you offered, or getting nothing, except to go to court. First of all, what does that do to your obligation to return the deposit in a timely fashion, and second, who do you think the judge will see as the bad guy?

 

[lljnapa]

If that were true, it would mean that you gave the tenant the choice of accepting what you offered, or getting nothing, except to go to court. First of all, what does that do to your obligation to return the deposit in a timely fashion, and second, who do you think the judge will see as the bad guy?

LL-
Yes, that is my primary question.
But, I must address what you've said above. Yes, there were deductions taken from the Security Deposit and a portion of the small claims court case concerns those deductions. The tenant has been in possession of the security deposit check since the latter part of last month(about 4 weeks now). My thinking was/is that the tenant should continue to hold the check until after the small claims court hearing to see if the judge was going to order an increase in the amount of security deposit, or leave things as they are, in which case the tenant would be free to cash the check.
Further, since he went ahead and cashed the check does that not imply that he is in agreement with the amount of the security deposit refund? I don't see that his only options are 'cash the check and get only that amount or don't cash the check and get nothing'. It's certainly possible that the judge may order an increase in the amount of the security deposit to be returned in which case the tenant will receive more of it back. Or, the judge may decide in my favor and agree that the deductions were justified.
My question remains, doesn't cashing the check indicate some sense of agreement with the "terms" of that check?
thanks....

 

[LL]

Nope.

He can cash the check and ask for more. By the way, what were the terms of that check? The law says, you owe the security back after certain lawful "offsets" and there are no "terms" here, there is no negotiation other than what you and the tenant can agree to before the time required for you to justify and return the deposit.

If you think that you sent too much, then:
a) Why did you send it? and
b) You need to file a cross-complaint for what you want back, so it will be heard at the same time, and the judge can make up his mind on the whole matter at once.

Small claims court especially is not interested is any such ideas like yours about the check, especially ones that obscure the real issues.
The real issues here are, how much should the tenant have gotten back, how much did he get, and give him a judgement for whatever he should get but didn't get. The judge won't care about who cashed what check. The judge will strongly support the tenant's right to cash whatever you sent, and to settle the matter later in court.

If you had sent the check as an "offer of settlement" requiring an acceptance, that might influence the judge, but then:
a) You still had an obligation to return the deposit by a certain date. You could not have sent nothing.
b) The influence on the judge would have been that the tenant actually "AGREED" to accept this amount as a final settlement.
c) In the end, the judge will try to see that the tenant gets what is due him, without regard to details like cashing checks.