Shady landlord

[Mercracken13]

Hello, I am in Southern California. We began renting a home in Lake Elsinore on August 1st, 2019. We have recently found out that the previous tenant never got his $1700 deposit back, he moved out in July. Our landlord never told us that there were any previous tenants. The previous tenant came to our house looking for the landlord and told us a bunch of shady things the landlord did when he was living here. We suspect that the $3200 deposit we gave him is gone. I think he is in a hole himself and used that money. Some things hinting to that include, a real estate agent came to our door asking if the landlord wanted to sell the house because it was in pre-foreclosure. The landlord claimed that he already filed for bankruptcy and showed paperwork and told us not to worry about it. Also, he kept the utilities in his name, so he sent us the electricity bill and he is way past due. The water was too, and got shut of on us! So he is clearly behind on the bills. We were unaware of all of this when we moved in. He also lied, saying that he paid all the bills (except electricity) out of pocket and we could pay him directly, then days later said the water and electricity would be shut off if we didn’t pay. I feel that he takes the money we give him for utilities and uses it for other things, hence our water being shut off. He also breeched the contract twice already. The first breech was the fact that our contract states we will move in on the 1st, but we didn’t move in until the 3rd because he hadn’t gotten all of his stuff out yet. And the 2nd, is small but none-the-less, in the contract it states that the screen to the back sliding door will be replaced before we move in, and it has not been replaced. We are just trying to find out if he really does have the $3200 deposit in a savings account like the contract states. If he cannot prove that to us, are we legally allowed to withhold rent? What are our options? Is it illegal for him to have used that money, is it illegal for him to be behind on the utilities allowing them to be shut off on US? Is it legal for him to withhold pre-foreclosure information?

 

[FarmerJ]

If utilities that he is supposed to pay ( even with you reimbursing him ) are turned off then call your city building inspections desk and ask them for help. You may also want to look at your states laws to see if they spell out your remedies when LL fails to pay bills ( EG the city I used to live in allowed tenants to pay the bills the LL failed to pay to keep vital services such as Gas, Electric, water-sewer on and deduct from the normal rent those amounts ) so I suggest you search your states landlord tenant laws and your cities ordinances to see if they spell out that kind of remedy and if they do then follow it exactly. AS to a possible foreclosure it can happen, many landlords do not own their property free and clear so they still can have enough things go wrong to cause them to lose a home. BTW if you call your city inspections desk after a disconnect then you do also risk having to move out if the city condemns the home as unfit to live in. IF that were to really happen your lease with this landlord would also be canceled due to the condemnation get a copy of the condemnation order for your records incase the LL tried to sue you.

 

[Dandy Don]

Unfortunately, this landlord has been dishonest with you, in a desire to get/grab as much cash as he could get his hands on before washing his hands of this property completely. He is not going to honor the contract with you. You may as well start the process of finding another place to live. Please have a consultation with a local landlord/tenant attorney as soon as possible to find out what your rights are.

Just for your own information, look at the land records/property records for your county online to see whose name is listed as owner, and also look at the civil court case records for your county (search by using the owner's name) to see if foreclosure has already begun.