ThisisHappeningToMe
03-30-2009, 06:22 PM
In regards to tenancy laws in the state of California.
I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this situation. I'm trying to address this from a rational place rather than an emotional one.
I rent a 3-bedroom house in a residential zone with two other roommates. I am the only one who is on the lease. A month ago, our house was raided by the DEA due to one of our roommates being under surveillance for manufacture & distribution of a Schedule I substance. He was arrested and taken into custody, and gave us his immediate notice as he was being taken away. The other roommate and I are completely uninvolved in this and in fact had no idea that the third roommate was doing anything illicit.
Shortly after his release on bail, and under house arrest at his family's home, he contacted me to inquire about any remaining funds left from his security deposit. He had originally given us first, last and security deposit. We used his last month's rent to cover his portion of the rent for the last 30 days and have been compiling all our shared household bills to calculate how much would be deducted from the security deposit. There are some ancillary charges that we feel should also be deducted from the security deposit, such as the parking ticket the other roommate incurred while being detained (in handcuffs) for 5 hours the morning of the raid.
In all honesty, neither of us remaining roommates believe this guy is owed ANY of his security deposit, and have been advised by several of our family members that he forfeited his right to his security deposit when he reneged on his verbal contract with us to be a participatory roommate and to remain a tenant for long-term. Admittedly, part of this sentiment is coming from an emotional place - after what he put us through, we don't owe him a dime, etc. - but I'm wondering what sort of legal ground we may have to stand on about this.
This guy is facing some serious federal felony charges at the moment and I'm not sure he'd have the resources to address a small claims court case if we were to try and take him to small claims about this, but nor are we convinced that we have the stamina to fight this battle if it became a laborious ongoing fight. I just want to know whether we have any legal precedent about this, given that he was never on the lease and caused our household grievous legal endangerment by conducting illicit activities while residing at our home.
Any thoughts or suggestions about this would be greatly appreciated.
I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this situation. I'm trying to address this from a rational place rather than an emotional one.
I rent a 3-bedroom house in a residential zone with two other roommates. I am the only one who is on the lease. A month ago, our house was raided by the DEA due to one of our roommates being under surveillance for manufacture & distribution of a Schedule I substance. He was arrested and taken into custody, and gave us his immediate notice as he was being taken away. The other roommate and I are completely uninvolved in this and in fact had no idea that the third roommate was doing anything illicit.
Shortly after his release on bail, and under house arrest at his family's home, he contacted me to inquire about any remaining funds left from his security deposit. He had originally given us first, last and security deposit. We used his last month's rent to cover his portion of the rent for the last 30 days and have been compiling all our shared household bills to calculate how much would be deducted from the security deposit. There are some ancillary charges that we feel should also be deducted from the security deposit, such as the parking ticket the other roommate incurred while being detained (in handcuffs) for 5 hours the morning of the raid.
In all honesty, neither of us remaining roommates believe this guy is owed ANY of his security deposit, and have been advised by several of our family members that he forfeited his right to his security deposit when he reneged on his verbal contract with us to be a participatory roommate and to remain a tenant for long-term. Admittedly, part of this sentiment is coming from an emotional place - after what he put us through, we don't owe him a dime, etc. - but I'm wondering what sort of legal ground we may have to stand on about this.
This guy is facing some serious federal felony charges at the moment and I'm not sure he'd have the resources to address a small claims court case if we were to try and take him to small claims about this, but nor are we convinced that we have the stamina to fight this battle if it became a laborious ongoing fight. I just want to know whether we have any legal precedent about this, given that he was never on the lease and caused our household grievous legal endangerment by conducting illicit activities while residing at our home.
Any thoughts or suggestions about this would be greatly appreciated.
