San Diego Renters left condo a disaster. Advice please.

[Patrick Hicks]

Hi all,

A quick background, I am currently in the military and live in Washington. I have a Condo in San Diego CA. that we bought and completely remodeled top to bottom. High end cherry kitchen cabinets and quartz countertops. New flooring throughout most of the condo, new carpet in bedrooms, recessed lighting and paint throughout. Remodeled bathroom with matching cherry vanity and new tile in the shower.

My sister in law just did a walkthrough of the unit and the renters of 22 months left it a disaster. They had a dog that we were unaware of and the dog scratched up all the doors and walls throughout the condo. There are small holes in the walls. The closet doors have been ripped away from the tracks (tracks need to be replaced). The wall mounted heater vent covers have been taken off the heaters (I’m guessing ripped off from the dog), stained carpet in both rooms. the bedroom door was locked so the tenent broke the door frame, they tried to fix it but did a horrible job.  Worst of all the hard wood cherry cabinets in both the kitchen and bathroom have scratches and one cabinet door has been partially ripped from the hinge.  This is some of the issues but not all.  Below are some of the fees that i will be dealing with over the next week.

Deposit: $1400

Rent: $451,61 + $75 late fee (prorated last months rent)(not received)

Cleaning fee: $189

Keys and Locks: $100 pool key and $75 laundry (not returned)

Carpet Cleaning: ?

Paint: ?

Handyman for repairs: ?

Ok questions that i am hoping you fellow bloggers can help with:

1. where can i go to get CA state renters and landlord laws?  Can i charge for carpet cleaning and paint if a renter has been in the unit for 22 months?  I want to be legal and fair.

2. Are there companies that will go in and fix, clean, repair and get the unit in rentable condition?  A "one stop shop"?  and do it at a fair price.  What would you recommend searching for (google search) or does someone have a SD based company that they would recommend.

Any help and or advice would be much appriciated, thanks in advance.

Pat