Costa Verde Village Apartments is an extensive apartment complex located along La Jolla Village Drive. With hundreds of units and a convenient location, it is a major source of off-campus — albeit relatively expensive — student housing. The security deposit, which is $1,200 for a two-bedroom apartment with a loft, is relatively expensive as well. Since the Costa Verde units are new, it makes sense that the owners would want to protect their investment, and so there is no reason for a renter to be suspicious of the deposit policy.
Guardian
However, instead of merely using the security deposit to protect the property against tenant damages and unreasonable messes, some UCSD students allege that Costa Verde management seems to embrace a rather cavalier policy of using the security deposit to generate income sometimes violating California rental law in the process.
A security deposit is not a payment, but rather money put forward by the tenant in case the renter fails to pay the rent, damage is done to the apartment or if the apartment needs to be cleaned. Barring any of these occurrences, it is the landlord’s responsibility to return the full deposit to the tenant. Civil Code 1950.5.a1 limits damages to those “”exclusive of ordinary wear and tear, caused by the tenant or by a guest or license of the tenant.””
Obviously, terms like “”damage”” and “”reasonable”” are up to interpretation, but the California State Web site, http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/sec-deposit.htm, gives advice for the application of these terms. For example, wear and tear on carpets and drapes could include “”moderate dirt or spotting,”” while large rips and stains justify a deposit deduction. Small dings or marks in the paint are also justified as normal wear and tear, but larger holes may need retouching.
While the cost of repainting can be billed to a tenant in the case of damages, the amount that needs to be paid is proportional to the lifetime of the product. Hence, if a tenant has lived in an apartment for one year, and it was newly painted at move-in, then he or she should only be charged half the cost of any repainting, according to the Web site.
The standard for cleaning is that the apartment must be suitably clean for an “”average”” or “”reasonable”” tenant to move into the apartment. “”A landlord cannot automatically charge each tenant for cleaning carpets, drapes, wall, or windows in order to prepare the rental unit for the next tenancy,”” stated the Web site. Acceptable cleaning costs might include spraying for fleas, cleaning the oven or taking stickers off walls if these tasks remained unfinished.
Richard Salas, a Revelle College senior, lived in a Costa Verde apartment for one year, and paid his share of a $1,200 deposit. When he moved out, the apartment was left, in his opinion, well-cleaned, with the only damages being two uncaulked holes in one bedroom where large screws had been set into the wall. Costa Verde ended up returning only
$671.43 of the money. Salas was charged for extensive cleaning, repainting and carpet cleaning. When Salas complained of these charges, he believes he received false claims from the management.
“”They said that the oven wasn’t clean, but my roommate spent two hours scrubbing it,”” Salas said. “”I
cleaned the bathroom myself with Ajax, and they said it was dirty.””
Repainting was charged for the entire apartment, even though only one bedroom was damaged, and that would have only required a touch-up, according to Salas.
Salas eventually sued in small claims court to recover some of his deposit and $600 in damages, the maximum allowed in security deposit disputes. Since no photos had been taken before and after moving, his claims hinged primarily on statute 1950.5.3f that states that the landlords must deliver an “”itemized statement indicating the basis for, and the amount of, any security received.”” Salas had simply been given a bill listing the costs of painting, carpet cleaning and general cleaning, with no further breakdown and no indication of the damages that justified the costs. In addition, Salas charged that without such a list of damages, the receipt evidenced that the management had charged him for routine cleaning.
During the trial, Costa Verde’s representative produced an unsigned document stating that tenants agree to pay for carpet cleaning and repainting when they move out. Salas responded that not only had he not seen it, but since it wasn’t signed, it was not binding. Finally, he argued that even if it had been signed, it would still not be binding because it stipulated responsibilities outside those legally required of a tenant, and a document signed in breach of law is not binding.
Salas lost his case.
Another Revelle senior, Jason Grosz, accompanied his girlfriend on a walkthrough. She was relocating from one unit in Costa Verde to another due to safety concerns. The walkthrough ended in a screaming match when Grosz made objections and the management’s representative began yelling at him.
The tenants were charged $60 for painting, although the list presented simply said “”retouching.”” Grosz also saw a pay scale that said each hour of painting cost Costa Verde $20. When Grosz spoke to a Costa Verde painter, he reportedly responded that “”touch-up painting wouldn’t be charged by the hour — more like a half-hour, or maybe 45 minutes.”” Many of these charges were later dropped at the insistence of the tenants, who exercised some leverage due to their safety concerns and the fact that they were moving from one unit to another.
To avoid being overcharged for cleaning and damages at any apartment complex, tenants should do a walkthrough when moving out. They should take pictures at move-in and move-out to establish the preexisting state of the property,. There are also a variety of institutions, such as the Better Business Bureau, that are interested in landlord malfeasance and should be notified.
