Landlords Must Itemize Move-Out Expenses

QUESTION: I live in Irvine and I have a question about security deposits. In December of 1996 I moved out of an apartment I lived in for more than seven years. During that time, the walls were never repainted nor new carpets or drapes installed. When I moved into the apartment in June 1989, I left a $300 security deposit.

When I moved out I got a $30 security-deposit refund. The explanation for the other $270 was “miscellaneous expenses.”

My son did break his closet door. Other than that, we cleaned thoroughly and left the apartment in perfect condition. What expenses can they legally charge a tenant upon leaving? Also, is the law governing security deposits a state or local one?

ANSWER: Apartment owners can legally charge vacating residents for three categories of expenses--unpaid rent, damages (which includes broken remotes or unreturned keys) and cleaning. A broken closet door fits into the damages category.

According to a large Southland retailer, closet doors range in price from $44.95 for a small one to $700 for the largest custom-made one. Therefore, it is conceivable that a new closet door could cost $270, with installation.

Nevertheless, apartment owners are required by state law to provide you with a detailed breakdown of move-out expenses. Ask the owner for that breakdown of expenses to verify the charges.

Also, often vacating renters don’t realize that cleaning includes cleaning the stove and refrigerator to the same condition they were when they moved in, just as the apartment should be as clean when you leave as it was when you came. If you didn’t clean everything to that level, he or she probably has charged you something for that, too.

If the owner’s explanation of the charges doesn’t seem reasonable, you can sue him or her in Small Claims Court for the difference.

Elderly Tenants Must Move Out of Rental

Q: A very dear friend of mine has lived in the same rent-controlled apartment in the Hollywood Heights section of Los Angeles for the last 50 years. She is 71 and her mother, who currently lives in a nursing home but should be home soon, is 98.

Now, they have received a notice that they must move to allow the new owner to move into the property.

They originally paid $35 a month for rent but the current rent is $486 a month. A comparable apartment across the street rents for $1,400.

Since they have occupied the apartment for 50 years and are seniors, can they require the landlord to vacate his order to move until the mother either dies or can make other arrangements?

Although the $5,000 relocation fee that the owner must pay them, as required by the L.A. city rent control law, seems like a lot, it hardly covers it in this instance.

A: Under the L.A. rent law your friends do qualify for $5,000 relocation assistance money, as opposed to $2,000, because they are senior citizens, defined by the law as age 62 or older. They cannot, however, require the landlord to vacate his order to move because of their ages or the length of their occupancy.

Assuming the new owners intend to move into the property in good faith, if your friends choose to fight the eviction, the owner may use money from their relocation assistance payment to finance his legal and other expenses, so that isn’t a good idea.

Your friends can try to negotiate with the new owner for more time to find new accommodations, but he is not required to bargain with them.

Air Conditioner Is One Way to Hide Noise

Q: I live in Torrance and read your column regularly. I have a problem and I hope that you will answer this question. I realize that it is usually illegal for landlords to refuse to rent to children, but I’m a tenant who is sick and tired of noisy, yelling, screaming, crying and whining children.

Five of the eight apartments here have children in them, and I’ve never had problems until about four months ago, when a family of four moved in to a one-bedroom apartment very close to mine. Their children cause 90% of the noise. These two children, about 1 and 3 years old, are extremely noisy, constantly yelling, screaming and screeching.

I have asked the parents several times to try to keep it a little more quiet. Their response is sarcastic.

I complained to the manager, and there was a tiny improvement but nothing significant. All I want to do is to be able to come home and relax. It doesn’t seem fair that I should have to put up with the noise of these inconsiderate children.

I thought about buying an air conditioner to drown out the noise. Other than that, what can I do about this? Also, are there any apartment complexes, other than retirement villages, where a landlord can refuse to rent to children?

A: As far as I know, seniors’ complexes are the only exception in the state of California to the rule requiring landlords to rent apartments to children.

Your idea of buying an air conditioner to drown out the noise is a good one, but only if the manager will allow you to get one without any problems.

If not, you do have a right to some level of peace and quiet. To find out whether your neighbor’s children’s noise is too noisy, call the Torrance Police Department.

Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, an apartment owners’ service group, and manager of public affairs for the California Apartment Law Information Foundation, which disseminates information about landlord-tenant law to renters and owners in California. Mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AAGLA, 12012 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles 90025.