House Rental Question

Bobalos

Bobalos

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I own a Condo in San Diego (Technically its Santee), and our tenants just moved out.  Whey they moved in we took a "security Deposit" from them. 

Does anyone know how long I have to give them that back? 

thanks

Bob

 
Thanks.  I found for LA county but not SD. I guessed they were the same but wanted to be sure.  

 
The way the house looks, I wouldn't give them their deposit back. Peace

 
They offered to "hire a cleaning lady" to come in.  Im sure they will claim "normal wear and tear", but man .. they left my house disgusting...........

Nice young couple with a baby, going out on their own, etc, etc, etc.  We tried to be as flexible and nice to them as we could & this is what we get...........  some folks....

 
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Be glad they're leaving and get new renters in asap. I've heard horror  stories from friends that own rentals  and people not leaving for over a year and nothing can be done. 

 
Document. I would walk thru my rental after a tenant 'moved out' with a video cam and then also take pictures of the major damage. If you use the same cleaning person each time (before and after each tenant you now have a witness who can testify in court when your former tenant claims that they left it cleaner than they found it. If your getting close to the legal deposit return date, get an estimate from a cleaning company (which hopefully exceeds the deposit amount) pronto. I was not able to deduct for my time to clean from the deposit so I always hired that out, no reason to work for free.

 
Depending on how long they are there the carpet is a wear item.  You can charge for broken cabinet or bedroom doors, holes in walls, cigarette burns in counter tops, oil stains in garage. Removal of excessive trash, if the value of left over items is over like $400 you’re supposed to have a public auction to recoup your lost rent or pay for damages. Every time Ive done it, it’s all trash. If paint was changed because they didn’t like the original color without authorization. Missing light fixtures or missing window screens.  Must be returned to pre rental condition. 

 
@Bobalos Sorry man.

THIS....is why I sold my place when I left CA.  Once I was seeing the CDC and Fuhrer Newsom rule that people didn't have to pay rent and landlords still had to pay mortgages, I was out.  For a while there, we just just everything off, locked the doors and left it empty until we figured out what we wanted to do.

 
FWIW, we are selling.  I didnt want to rent it in the first place (its kind of a long story), the wife said "what is the worst that could happen".  well........

All things considered it didn't work out too bad for us, but I guess Im just a dumb.azz for thinking adults would act like adults. 

time to move on.  Im cleaning out my life with a fire hose....... 

 
We ended up going Section 8 since you can cherry pick tenants more.  Risky from a damage standpoint, but you have to separate yourself from the house emotionally and treat it as a business.  We have insurance we pay for with the additional income due to Section 8.

TX is definitely safer for landlords, as is renting to military (with the main detractor being turnover).  

 
Good luck.  Be glad they left and fix it.

careful with the deposit.

if you keep it and they get pissed, technically it has to be in its own acct the whole time they were renting and renter is entitled the interest.

probably best to just give it back. They will always win in court. If we were having this conversation in texas I would advise differently lol

 
As far as the security deposit, I would just hire your own cleaner and take that out of their deposit.  Any damages come out of the deposit.  Keep receipts for damages.  I usually hire companies to deal with it and let the tenant pay for it with deposit.  If it's more than the deposit, that's where I end up doing the work myself if it makes sense.

Keep in mind that carpet and paint have lifetimes, so generally you're on your own to clean the carpet after 3 years of tenancy, and replace it after 6-10.  If there is damage (rips, stains from spills, holes, etc) to the carpet or walls, those repairs bounce against the deposit.  If it's just dirty, you'll have to pay to have it cleaned.

Shitty, but it is what it is.  I expect to see chit and get surprised when it isn't gross.  Call Molly Maid and let them handle it.

 
You had a lease agreement with them stipulating cleaning the house prior to turning back over to you, correct?  

 
Bobalos said:
They offered to "hire a cleaning lady" to come in.  Im sure they will claim "normal wear and tear", but man .. they left my house disgusting...........

Nice young couple with a baby, going out on their own, etc, etc, etc.  We tried to be as flexible and nice to them as we could & this is what we get...........  some folks....
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I've been to some friends' houses.  Very nice people that own the house...

But I also didn't want to sit down or touch anything.  Normal to some people.

 
Make sure you get them an Itemized list of charges quickly.  If you don't, then they can take you to court and get all the deposit back, even though they thrashed the house.

 
"No Emotional Attachment" to the rental property is NUMBER 1 rule. Apply that rule to the residence and the tenants (No family, no friends)

@Rockwood posted some great advice.

We were looking at Duplex's this past weekend, my kids said they could live there and "manage" the property from one of the units....

Ugh NO, when you move out we cut all $$ ties...yore own yore own for housing, etc. LOL...they were like :blink:

 
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