Updated almost 17 years ago on .
Sublease deposit questions
I live in Oakland, CA. I moved into a house four months ago and after some negotiations with the roommate taking care of all the business, we orally agreed that I would be on a week to week rental agreement, even though sometimes I would pay a month in advance and sometimes week to week (the other roommate has verified this in writing for me, since I'm probably going to have to take this guy to court to get my deposit back) He said he had worked it out with the landlord and it was all official. Since I was allowed to make my first rent check out directly to the landlord, I figured he knew I was there and it was all kosher.
When we made this agreement, the roommate I was subleasing from showed me a filled out lease showing that the deposit on the house was $1725 with an additional $300 dollar dog deposit. The rent on the house is $1575 per month. The lease looked very official and was on legal sized paper. When I asked to make a copy of it he said he couldn't let me because it had some of the personal information of him and his cosigner (his mom) on it. I should have remembered that the deposit can't be more than the rent in California, but the lease looked so very official that I was duped.
So when we made this agreement, he asked that I pay 1/3 of the house deposit (there are 3 of us here) and half the dog deposit since I have a dog as well. I made up a receipt for the deposit which reads:
"I S.C. do also state that P.P. has paid me $150 cash as her half of the dog deposit, as well as $575 dollars in general deposit, which represents 1/3 of the deposit paid on the house. The deposits will be refunded 60 days after her move out should she move out before I do (less any repairs or cleaning incurred by her personally), or upon the return of the entire house deposit by the landlord should we vacate at the same time (less any charges for cleaning and repairs incurred by her personally)."
I had him sign and date it.
Fast forward to 4 months of living in a nightmare (this guy is a classic manipulator) and I have just given my 7 day notice (I actually gave him two weeks notice even though we agreed that I only had to give 7 days). The OTHER roommate (who has also given notice) and I were talking about deposit when she showed me her copy of the lease between he and the landlord, the REAL lease. Turns out this place is rent controlled and the entire general deposit on the house was only S400 dollars and the entire dog deposit was only $100 dollars. I called the property manager to verify and he said there may be an additional sheet I don’t have because the deposit was probably more like 1000.00 or he wouldn’t have rented it, he says he’ll get this to me by Wednesday. Even if the deposit is a bit more, it’s still way less than was represented to me.
While I don't have a copy of the fake lease he showed me, I will have the real lease showing the amount of deposit and the receipt which clearly shows he was representing the deposit as MUCH more than it really was.
So I have some questions. One is, does this represent fraud? Can a subleasor legally take vastly more in deposit than there is deposit on the house, while clearly representing it as only 1/3 of the general deposit and 1/2 of the dog deposit? If it doesn’t, could it at least represent bad faith should he fail to return my deposit (I have pictures of the place showing no damage, and since all expenses must be itemized and I know the guy is just going to try to take my deposit, being able to prove bad faith right from the start of my tenancy should help me in court right?)
Also, I have since found out that legally a deposit must be returned within 21 days. I was giving him extra time to be nice, but does the law trump this? If it doesn't, does the fact that he lied in a legal document (my deposit receipt) void me from having to wait 60 days? I am only worried because he could be long gone by then and it might be hard to find him.
Finally, if since it says on the receipt that I have to wait 60 days, I indeed DO have to wait 60 days, does that mean that the statement that he can only take damages “incurred by me personally†also still hold? Since I know he has no pictures of the place at all, and I’ve taken a ton of documentation, there is no way he can prove any damage was “incurred by me personallyâ€. (There really isn’t a whole lot of damage anyway).
Sorry about this long question but I’ve been on the web looking for info on subleasing/subletting and there’s not much compared to the info on regular landlord tenant agreements.