[enron29]

I'll try to make a long story short. Rented a house in Brea, CA for almost 5 years. Great tenants, kept the place real nice and always paid on time. Get notice that we have to move out suddenly, with 6 month pregnant wife at the time. Sucks, but is what it is. Find a new rental, but have to change daughter's schools and again, move while my wife is pregnant and can't really help with anything.

We took a while moving and cleaning up the previous place. Patched all the holes and repainted, cleaned, etc. etc. Place looked awesome for a family of 4 with 2 younger kids living there for 5 years. Expecting to get full deposit back. Yet, not only are the owners forcing us to move at this time, now they are trying to charge me $500. $300 to shampoo the carpet, and $200 because we didn't put the exact same air filter in the a/c unit, so now the ducts/coils need to be cleaned blah, blah, blah.

First of all, there is no way those carpets were shampoo'd when we moved in. I'm not even sure they were vacuumed. But property manager is saying they have canceled check or something showing they did it. Is there a law that states we need to get the carpets shampoo'd because they did? Obviously we vacuumed and cleaned, but didn't shampoo the carpets.

Also, owner is saying the filter should have been a 4" filter, and we only installed a thinner filter. Is this 4" filter a standard filter you can buy from home depot or anything, or is it a custom filter? Should they have provided us with filters?

Just wanted to get some input from you intelligent people to figure out if this is worth fighting, or just eat the $500 and be done with it. Thanks.

[GATORB8]

Do you have a copy of your latest signed lease?

Were they within their rights (per the lease) to terminate the lease so suddenly?

My guess is you may have to decide how much of your time $500 is worth to you.

Do you remember removing a 4" filter?

[GATORB8]

For your reading pleasure:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...-deposit.shtml

1. Costs of cleaning

A landlord may properly deduct from the departing tenant's security deposit to make the rental unit as clean as it was when the tenant moved in.241

A landlord cannot routinely charge each tenant for cleaning carpets, drapes, walls, or windows in order to prepare the rental unit for the next tenancy. Instead, the landlord must look at how well the departing tenant cleaned the rental unit, and may charge cleaning costs only if the departing tenant left the rental unit (or a portion of it) less clean than when he or she moved in. Reasonable cleaning costs would include the cost of such things as eliminating flea infestations left by the tenant's animals, cleaning the oven, removing decals from walls, removing mildew in bathrooms, defrosting the refrigerator, or washing the kitchen floor. But the landlord could not charge for cleaning any of these conditions if they existed at the time that the departing tenant moved in. In addition, the landlord could not charge for the cumulative effects of wear and tear. Suppose, for example, that the tenant had washed the kitchen floor but that it remained dingy because of wax built up over the years. The landlord could not charge the tenant for stripping the built-up wax from the kitchen floor.

The The landlord is allowed to deduct from the tenant's security deposit only the reasonable cost of cleaning the rental unit.242

[csu87]

Always get a cheap carpet cleaning when moving out of a rental. Can usually get some good deals on a cheap clean, and then you dont have to pay the outrageous prices landlords charge to clean the carpets.

like Gator said, check your lease agreement and see what it states about moving out and what you have to do.

As for the Air Duct Cleaning and the filters, that would also need to be checked in the lease agreement. Both of these things are maintenance items, so if it states they are responsible for maintenance, you could argue they should have been doing the filter swaps and the cleaning regularly.

[smoosh]

Read the lease agreement carefully. The landlord must include all charges due at move-out either on the lease or at some point by notice before move-out.

The law heavily favors tenants over landlords. I would find out the reason for your sudden termination.

As for your filter question...just read over the lease agreement carefully and see what's in there.

[UncleWede]

5 years is well beyond normal wear/tear for carpet. How many squares cost $500 to clean?????

[Naz24]

As other posters said above (i'm actually a landlord)

He figures for the $500, you wont fight him. It all comes down to what the lease says, if you send it to me i can review and let you know. But if the lease says you are required to replace Air filters with exact same brand (as discussed in lease, then youre screwed, if not youre fine). As far as carpet, check if there is a cleaning fee on exit.

[GATORB8]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

5 years is well beyond normal wear/tear for carpet. How many squares cost $500 to clean?????

From the ca.gov site above:

In addition, the landlord could not charge for the cumulative effects of wear and tear.

[enron29]

We were past our original 24 month lease and month to month. Still haven't gotten clear story on why we had to move out. They say they have to move back in, but all neighbors say they are probably giving it to their son who is getting married.

I will check lease agreement when I get home. I don't specifically remember what the filter was that we removed, but I remember writing down the number and getting same.

[enron29]

Originally Posted by Naz24

As other posters said above (i'm actually a landlord)

He figures for the $500, you wont fight him. It all comes down to what the lease says, if you send it to me i can review and let you know. But if the lease says you are required to replace Air filters with exact same brand (as discussed in lease, then youre screwed, if not youre fine). As far as carpet, check if there is a cleaning fee on exit.

Sent you PM. Please let me know. Thanks.

[John 070]

Just eat it, family and time is more important esp, with one on the way. Now if they held one month's rent, that would be another story. If the rent is like $4000/mo or something, let the $500 go. My .02

Edit I beat a scumbag landlord in small claims, and even so, short of the sheriff and an income execution, he told me he won't pay. I was 19 and would do whatever it took to get my money. As a family man we have to let some things go and prioritize our families...

[enron29]

Originally Posted by John 070

Just eat it, family and time is more important esp, with one on the way. Now if they held one month's rent, that would be another story. If the rent is like $4000/mo or something, let the $500 go. My .02

Edit I beat a scumbag landlord in small claims, and even so, short of the sheriff and an income execution, he told me he won't pay. I was 19 and would do whatever it took to get my money. As a family man we have to let some things go and prioritize our families...

I agree, in the long term, it most likely it is not worth the time. I think it just eats me because of them forcing us to move with my wife being pregnant and everything just so their son can move in to the home, and then charging me $500 on top of it, when you already own multiple homes and are obviously in a much better situation than I am in.

[Ross61]

Do not let them off!!

Take them to small claims court. Have the pictures and other documentation on hand. Document all the time you put into it especially any work missed. (Set it up as an hourly function.)

When in court, present everything to the judge including your time sheet(s) and ask for 2x the rate which your day job pays. If everything is as you describe, you'll have the court on your side.

If they refuse to pay, go the next steps. Pain in the ass? Sure. But the pay off will be worth your time (the ultimate will be your placing a lien on the property and foreclosing on it, though it is highly unlikely the owner(s) will let it get that far).

[RickFLM4]

I'd just forget about the whole thing, including the $500.

As far as being asked to move, I'm not sure why you'd be upset about landlord asking you to move if you were on a MTM extension. I'm sure it was inconvenient under the circumstances but unfortunately that's the risk with a MTM lease.