Rental Deposit - LA
 

We are about to give notice on our rented house in LA and will be moving out in approx. 30 days. We have been living in our place for over 2 years and the place will need some work to it to bring up to standard for a new tenant – this is through wear and tear as opposed to any specific damage to the property. In that situation would the landlord normally return the majority of the deposit? Or would they try and use the deposit to cover any work needed?

This is the 1st place I’ve rented in the US so am not sure what the common practice is/what to expect. Back in London I have normally put a lot of work into leaving a rented property spotless so at get my deposit back. There landlords have tried to keep some of the deposit but I have always managed to get it all back. Any experiences from both a landlord/tenant would be appreciated.

Re: Rental Deposit - LA
 

google is your friend here - from a relocation person....


"Wear and tear is the average deterioration of furniture, carpets and other features of a rental property due to normal use over time. California laws vaguely define wear and tear. California court cases where landlords and tenants disputed damages provide examples to what normal wear and tear is, such as scuff marks on the wall, small chips of paint from door frames, tread and dirt in carpets, small nail holes in the wall, minor wear on appliances, and the natural decrease of useful life for appliances and carpeting."

I'd get the carpets cleaned by a company and the rest of the place cleaned by a cleaning service. Keep the receipts to show the landlord. Fill in any holes in the walls and paint them. A quick blob of paint on any chips/scratches. Basically anything more than that is not normal wear and tear.

And hopefully you took lots of photos and emailed them to your landlord and yourself when you moved in that documented every scratch, hole and dent.

Re: Rental Deposit - LA
 

There's so much wiggle room in the regs and variability in the honesty and integrity of landlords that it is pretty much impossible to predict. You could get all your deposit back, or the landlord might take big chunks out of it to cover bogus "damage" repairs.

Unless you are prepared to try to fight the case, potentially in court, I would recommend expecting nothing and be reasonably happy if you get half of the deposit back, and delighted if you get more.