Can he take any of my deposit?
Hi all, I recently moved out an apartment in San Carlos, California. My landlord did an initial walk-through inspection 10 days before my move-out. He said everything looked good and did not leave a written list of damages to be fixed. So I hired a professional cleaning company for a move-out cleaning and moved out.
Now 10 days after we moved out, the landlord reached out with the following two photos (attached to this post) in a very frustrated tone and using all-caps letters in some sentences.
- Photo 1: the quartz countertop has a light discoloration, which he called extremely heat damage. he is waiting to hear from a professional about this.
- Photo 2: we washed the hood range in dishwasher prior to his initial inspection. He now said we ruined these because we put them in the dishwasher.
Both condition were there already during his initial walk-through and it was not hidden in anyway.
Base on above information, could you kindly let me know if he can legally take any of my deposit at all?
I appreciate your help.
You should have filled out a pre-move in inspection form and noted any imperfections. Do you still have this on file? If so you should have a good argument to get your deposit back.
The pre-inspection is not a final inspection. It's not unusual to find problems after the Tenant has vacated, and it's completely normal.
The range hood screens cost $10 - $15 each. Don't sweat it.
Quartz countertops damaged by heat can typically be cleaned/repaired with a mild abrasive, warm water, and soap. A mild abrasive would be something like baking soda or white toothpaste.
You can be held responsible, but I don't think these are big expenses.
Quote from @Taylor Dasch:
You should have filled out a pre-move in inspection form and noted any imperfections. Do you still have this on file? If so you should have a good argument to get your deposit back.
I was not offered to fill out a pre-move inspection form. The landlord came to inspect and said things looked good and didn't leave anything written.
Quote from @Nathan Gesner:
The pre-inspection is not a final inspection. It's not unusual to find problems after the Tenant has vacated, and it's completely normal.
The range hood screens cost $10 - $15 each. Don't sweat it.
Quartz countertops damaged by heat can typically be cleaned/repaired with a mild abrasive, warm water, and soap. A mild abrasive would be something like baking soda or white toothpaste.
You can be held responsible, but I don't think these are big expenses.
Thanks so much for your recipe of fixing the countertop. In California, landlords are required at initial inspection to provide a written list of issues to be fixed by tenants or deposit can be deducted for those, so I thought if he didn't leave a list, we are in the clear. But seems like he can still call out damages at final inspection that he missed during initial inspection? by California law??
Quote from @Ay Zed:
Here's a guide from California government. Note on the second page that the Landlord can still do a final inspection. There's no way to completely inspect a property when you still have it full of furniture, fridge full of food, haven't swept and mopped, etc.
https://www.courts.ca.gov/part...