Scum of the Earth aka a landlord

August 25, 2023 10:38 PM

What are my renter's rights in LA?

I moved out of my old place a month ago. I submitted formal written notice and talked to the landlord and everything seemed ok. We talked about the deposit and all was good. I told him to just send it to my new address both verbally and in writing. But from my reading a former landlord must pay back any deposit within 21 days and if anything gets deducted provide an itemized list of why and the cost of that. It's been a month now and I've received nothing. I called him and got no answer and the call was not returned. My former roommate still lives there. Do I have to wait until he leaves to get my deposit? We both signed the lease but It was month to month and I'm no longer on that lease. I'd think now that I'm out I should have gotten something by this point. I'm hesitant to push it though cause he's a lawyer. But I'm no longer a tenant and should have gotten my deposit now, right? How do I proceed?

posted by downtohisturtles to Law & Government (11 answers total)

Are you and your former roommate both on the lease? Did you pay separate deposits? From my understanding, it's just one deposit for the apartment and you don't get it back until the apartment is vacated by all parties. You get the deposit back if there's no damage and the apartment is clean. So I'm confused why you'd get a deposit back if your roommate is still living there...
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 10:47 PM on August 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don’t live in LA but where I live, the deposit is returned when all parties move out. In a situation like yours, the person taking over your spot in the house is the one who pays you back your portion of the security deposit.

This page makes it seem like it’s the same in LA (scroll down to the part about roommates and subtenants): here
posted by hungrytiger at 10:49 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Oh sorry, I see you were both on the lease month to month.
posted by AnyUsernameWillDo at 10:50 PM on August 25, 2023

When I had this experience as a tenant in SF, the new roommate typically paid the old roommate their deposit, with the understanding that the new roommate would eventually receive the deposit back from the landlord when all roommates left the apartment.
posted by samthemander at 10:56 PM on August 25, 2023 [4 favorites]

Unless the lease imposes your reading, no, you can’t force LL to return half of the deposit to you while the tenancy continues without you. The deposit is to cover the condition of the whole unit and the whole units rent. It’s not as if LL can move in a total stranger to live with your former roommate to cover the other half.

Your gripe is with your former roomie.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:59 PM on August 25, 2023 [4 favorites]

That is, if the tenancy is in fact continuing. If the current rental is being entirely ended and the LL is entering into a new one with your former roommate only, then you get your half back, less deductions. In that event, he might be taking the view that he has 21 days from the end of the last shared term, not from your move out, as one of you is still there. (If those were different dates.)

If he’s ignoring calls, send him a letter asking for clarification.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:10 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Caveat that this is a NY perspective, but - yeah, the landlord's deal is for the apartment itself, not with the individual people on the lease. Unless you had a separate lease just for you, then your landlord doesn't have to do anything until the apartment itself is empty and your roommate has also moved out.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:37 AM on August 26, 2023

It really depends on what the lease says. If you both signed separate leases then the landlord (probably) does owe you your separate deposit unless the lease says otherwise. If you're both on the same lease, and you're just being replaced by someone else (either a new tenant or your roommate taking over your half) then you're (probably) owed the deposit by whoever has replaced you.
posted by trig at 4:51 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I would call or email the housing department to ask. Whatever you are reading that tells you about the deadline should also include steps to take when the landlord does not return it in the 21 days. In some cases you have to take them to court.
posted by soelo at 7:19 AM on August 26, 2023

I just took a class on landlording 101 last weekend. The presenter was very meticulous about rules and renters' rights. He stressed over and over and over again that all parties on a lease are in a "financial marriage". He stresses this to other landlords. He especially stresses this to tenants. All tenants are bound together financially until the lease ends for all tenants.

So, if one person moves out but there are still renters left behind, then that lease has not ended and the deposit is not yet refundable. This is true regardless the number of tenants in the rental. The deposit belongs to each batch of renters as a group, not to individuals. All of them have to vacate before the deposit is returned. (And obviously each tenant is going to sign a copy of the lease. Or at least that's what should be the case for anybody doing things by the books.)

That's my understanding of how things work in Oregon, and I'd guess they're very similar in other states.

My advice: Read your copy of the lease to be sure you're clear on exactly how deposits work and to see what the terms are of this "financial marriage".
posted by jdroth at 7:21 AM on August 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yeah, as everyone else said, your former roomie would have to give you the money back, your landlord won't.

I note I got screwed on this because my old roommate made me pay her her half of the security deposit when she moved out, then I had apartment floods and management told me they'll never give me the money back because of that (not my fault on the floods either time, mind you, and they know that).

I have learned that security deposit money is something I should never expect to get back. They didn't make me pay another deposit for my new solo apartment when I moved out of the old apartment into another one in the same complex (after the floods) and I figured this was as good as it was going to get. I don't have the time, money, or energy to fight this shit and landlords can do what they want, pretty much.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:03 AM on August 26, 2023