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Tenant vacated premises with keys - can I change locks, and charge him?
I am in a sticky situation with a tenant. I am the landlord, and we lived together. He decided to not stay at the house and go home for summer. He has a year lease that ends at the end of June. He completely vacated the premises on June 13th without notice (I did not realize until I came home that day), and he removed all of his belongings as well. I verbally told him that he must replace window screens and clean his room to receive his deposit. He came back today (June 16th) to fix his room, but the replaced screens improperly fit in the window frame - they must be replaced again. The tenant is extremely disrespectful to me over the phone, and a constant headache that insists on things working through his time and his way. Do I have to give him another chance in replacing the screens? Also, he still is in possession of the keys. Can I demand that he return them within (5?) days or risk being charged for the replacement of locks? He has removed all belongings in the house. Lastly, he failed to mention that his window is cracked from side to side (it appears he shot it with a BB gun) and needs to be replaced as well. I only noticed this today - do I have to give him a chance to replace this? It seems extremely obvious to me. I feel he was hiding this from me. The last thing I want to do is see this tenant again. He is a constant misery. Ideally, I would like to not have to meet him face to face. I would like to charge all the reparations to his deposit, and give him whats left. I do not want him to return to fix the house. P.S. I live in California P.S.S. If you are able to provide a place for me to reference such regulations, that would be extremely helpful. I have intensively looked at the lease. It mentions that the tenant has the right to "remedy identified deficiencies prior to termination" as provided by an inspection. I feel he had the opportunity to do so.
Public Comments
- Send him a certified letter after you figure out all the things that need to be replaced/fixed and get estimates of the costs or get them fixed, and make copies of the receipts and outline exactly why he isn't getting his deposit back.
I would say he had his chance to fix the screens correctly. Change the locks for sure, you do not want this person to have access to your house.
- Just slow down a minute...
Because your tenant has paid through the end of June, he has every reasonable right to the property that any tenant would have up until the end of his lease, unless you feel that he is a threat to you (in which case you should contact your local authorities and change the locks IMMEDIATELY). At the end of his lease (i.e. after June 30), it is fully within your right to charge him for all damage he caused, including fixing of the window, replacement of the screens, and changing of the locks (assuming he refuses to leave all copies of his keys with you). After you have all of these things fixed, he will be entitled to his share of the remaining security deposit. Send him a certified letter, including copies of invoices for all the repairs, along with the check. Make sure to keep the original invoices and a copy of the letter for yourself.
If you are still uncertain, see the department of consumer affairs website for your landlord rights regarding what you can charge the tenant for: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/sec-deposit.shtml
By the way, it's P.P.S. (Post-Post Script), not P.S.S. There is no such thing as P.S.S.
- You have 21 days to get him his deposit. No lease agreement gives you a right to delay repayment.
You have to have receipts for any monies kept.
You will be hard pressed with the window. If it was shot the wide part of the whole is on the other side that it was shot from. So if you say he shot it there will be a tiny cone shaped hole, with the wide part being outside. Gun shots typically do not crack glass (only in the movies) and often do not require replacement, just filling the whole is sufficient, and costs under 5 cents.
Just rekey the locks, it will cost about 10 bucks a lock, you really are not justified replacing the locks with new ones.
Buy a new screen (about 15 bucks) and replace it, this is not a big deal.
