So, I moved out of my residence on April 22nd and left everything in perfect condition and spotless. My landlord (actually landlady) always showered me with praise, "oh, you are our best tenant, we love you so much, blah blah blah." So, on the 21st I go to her house and say "Can you inspect my apartment since I'm leaving tomorrow morning and won't be around?" Her response "Oh, I can't...I'm too busy...I might tomorrow." Fifteen minutes later she shows up to show my apartment to someone else- without notifying me! (which I assume is illegal). I exploded and said "Why don't you look at my apartment now since you are here?" "Oh, I can't...I'm just a woman, I have to have my husband do this type of stuff, he's the man you know." "But you are the building manager, and your name is on the building in front!" "Oh no, I'm just a woman...that's not true" She also claimed I hadn't given her any notice that I was leaving, which is also a blatent lie as I gave her 45 days. At this point I'm fuming and she quickly exits, saying " I don't want to talk to you anymore."

Saturday when I called to tell her I was leaving and asking her to inspect the apartment she hung up on me. All subsequent phone calls to her have ended in hang-ups immediately after me saying my name. I am so fucking pissed. I have mailed a letter threatening her with my non-existent lawyer. Any other recommendations? I've also been calling her at 3 AM and blasting Throbbing Gristle into the phone but I don't think that's going to help either. I'm assuming since I left the state she thinks she can get away with this. This is $700 I really, really need right now.

From the San Francisco Tenants Union website:

http://www.sftu.org/deposit.html

I've been through that before. It wasn't as much money, but it still sucked. I eventually gave up on getting my money back...chalked it up as a loss. I think you'd have to take the landlord to small claims court at this point if you really want it back.

I've done that before, and won. Everytime I move in someplace, I take a camera and take pictures of exactly the condition it was in when I moved in, and get the landlord to sign 'em on the back. I actually IMPROVED the house I was renting (painted and replaced the rug on the stairs) (okay, I replaced the rug on the stairs because my cats tore it up - BUT I STILL REPLACED IT) and the landlord wouldn't give the deposit back. Won deposit+filing costs. Felt great.

wes, you just moved to SF, CA from another state, right? I'd dig up and brush up on my local renter's rights, and get all my ducks in a row re: paper trails and evidence. There may be existing support services for renters in your old town, that can offer pro bono or cheap representation. You'll need someone local to your old residence to help you if it comes to that. You know, so they won't be charged long distance when they send Throbbing Gristle love letters to her voicemail.

Landlady's obviously a crackhead.

This is why (when I was renting) I never paid the last month's rent. That way you're all square when you leave.

stackmatic wrote:From the San Francisco Tenants Union website:

http://www.sftu.org/deposit.html

I second this.

I lived at 23rd and S. Van Ness with my wife and a room mate on one floor of a house. The room mate was the master tennant, lived there for 10 years. The owner sold the house to a family, one sister moved into the first floor and one moved into the second floor.

The sale and eviction was fare and square, but they're required to pay relocation costs and give you first dibs for re-renting the place.

Actually, I'd moved out by the time that happened, however, we all looked into the tenents union. In SF, as the renter you have a lot more power if you take the time to go through legal channels.

Good luck!

Ben Adrian

I was an apartment manager (over a 1000 units) for a good number of years. Calling your landlady at 3:00 AM is not helping your case. How old are you? If you feel that you have been wronged by all means take her to small-claims court. In Illinois we have provisions that the landlord may be held liable for up to 3 times the security deposit if they don't follow the letter of the law. A well crafted letter from an attorney would usually grab my attention. Even if I was right in keeping someone's security deposit, I would usually refund it at this time if I thought there was a chance we would be held liable for 3x the deposit.

I have no idea as to why she is keeping your money. Maybe your lease didn't expire yet and she is charging you rent until she can re-rent the apartment or she thinks your apartment was left in a less than perfect condition. Regardless, she should answer your phone calls and tell you why. Over the years I've had countless phone calls from people telling me that their apartment was left in perfect condition when it wasn't.

my old landlord stiffed me on about half my deposit (around £150) in our last house because of holes in the wall that he had made whilst fitting some shelves, and for rubbish in the garden that he had left (and had been there the best part of the tenancy). i was pretty pissed and called him a number of times explaining the situation (i.e. it wasn't our fault and therefore we were entitled to our full deposit back) but he just ignored me and eventually threatened me with a lawyer if i kept calling him.
what we then decided to not tell him was that we'd accidentally punctured a pipe in the first floor bathroom whilst unblocking it a few weeks prior to moving out, resulting in a slow drip into the kitchen below. i know for a fact that he didn't get anyone else to move in for a good few months after we left. i'd love to know how much it cost to clean up and repair the inevitable mess that was caused by said drip.
we still lost the money, but it was a small victory none the less.

I took a landlord to small claims court over a security deposit once and won. It was there that the judge informed me that I could have sued for twice the deposit amount since the landlord kept the deposit for over 45 days without any kind of communication as to why they wouldn't return any of my money.

You should also include court costs in the lawsuit.

Fuck shady landlords.