Remote deposit capture risk assessment template, Lanlord or tenant Law isn’t one of my general areas of practice, but like every lawyer, I’ve friends who often ask my advice about legal issues with which they’re faced. Recently, a friend asked for my help in corresponding with her former landlord regarding charges taken from her rental safety deposit she felt were unwarranted.
As landlord/tenant issues are among the most common legal questions I get from friends, I’d love to discuss rights and responsibilities concerning security deposits within this informative article. At the end I shall incorporate a sample letter you can send to your landlord for return of your deposit. Please note all info in this post is specific to California law. The laws of your state or jurisdiction may differ. Many nations offer renter’s handbooks that would include significant laws, or you should contact a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction for aid.
A landlord has 28 days to enroll a deposit with either a custodial or insurance type scheme. Information concerning the registration of the deposit must be provided to the renter. Under the Housing Act there is a prescribed format for information to be supplied. The landlord can be taken to court by the tenant where the information has not been provided in the right format. Tenants have the right to go back six years before taking action against the landlord.
Where the landlord fails to register the bond you will find penalties. The landlord can be required to pay the tenant a sum three times greater than the deposit; or they may have to repay all rent plus a penalty or the landlord may lose the right to evict the tenant in the property the choice on the penalty is accepted by the court. Some landlords say they do not take deposits they only ask the tenant to pay two months rent in advance. If the tenant pays rent monthly along with the landlord always has a float of one month’s lease this is the same as taking a deposit and the principles concerning failure to register a deposit will apply.