CA rent law, who will the judge believe?

Question

We moved out of our old apartment before 30 days, 10 days before the 30 days ended. We gave the manager 30 days notice. Now, the landlaord claims that we never gave them the 30 days notice and is charging us 30 days of rent money! Not only that, they are threatening to sue us if we don't pay! We are so mad and confused on what we can do. We have a copy of the notice we gave them, but it was hand written with our signature, not post marked, and not signed by the manager. We took pictures of the apartment when we left as well. Will the judge believe us if we go to court with copy we have?

Answer 1

He may go with you. It really will depend which of you seesm more creditable. Come dressed professionally and speak clearly when you address him.

Let him sue you, sue him right back if he does not return your deposit.

He is unlikely to carry though, it is a PIA to sue in CA.

Answer 2

When you moved out doesn't matter as much as when your rent was paid up until. You can pay for all the apartments you want.

Also, notice is normally on a calender month basis or full rental period and not a literal 30 days. If you rent from the 1st to the last day of the month, that is your full notice period. It's like rent ... a months rent is the same even if the month has 28 days, 30 days or 31 days.

If your landlord doesn't object to your version of 30 days, great, but don't bank on it.

It would have cost you less than $1 to get a proof of mailing at the post office and .39 cents for a stamp.

If you handed them the notice physically, send them a certified letter that says "At X:XX pm on April X 2007, my wife and I came to your office located at _____ and personally handed you our notice. At the same time we handed you the notice, I told you that it was our 30 day notice and that we were moving on ____. As I personally handed you the notice and told you what it was, I am confused as to why you now claim you did not get this notice. Did you forget to record it and are now trying to cover your mistake?" and then hope that they drop the matter.

If they don't and you do end up in court, it will mostly come down to your word against his. If you can come up with someone who saw or heard you give him the notice, bring them with you. It really could go either way.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Could go either way really, depending on the judge. I would say most likely the judge will be on the landlords side and it will be your job to sway them. You have a copy, but you have no proof you gave it to them.

When I left my apartment, I made a copy, had the front office sign it and return it to me, and then that night I called and spoke with the person in charge and made sure they knew about it.

Could the person in the office you gave the note to of misplaced it? I really don't think they would purposely try to get you, but maybe. Your best bet would be to remember the exact day, time, person you gave the note to, or the drop box you put it in, and take your chances. As much details as possible is important, since you don't want to seem like you may be confused on any part.

Answer 4

You have a chance with a judge, but I would not put a lot of faith into it. Because you did not properly authenticate the notice (send it via certified mail with return receipt, or have the person who received the copy sign for the receipt), it's your word against theirs. Assuming this is a sizeable apartment complex, they probably have regular visits to small claims courts. If their court record is a good one (known to handle business properly), the judge will most probably take the side of the apartment management.