We required a rental home at fairly short notice that took 2 large dogs and after some searching found an advertised house that would be available when we required. We called the realtor that represented the home and made arrangements to view it. The realtor also showed us a house that he owned personally and would be willing to rent at a (much higher) price. We advided that the realtor's house was more than we wanted to spend but that we would take the other house at the beginging of the next month. The landlord did credit checks and verbally approved us. This was communicated to us by the realtor who told us that he would deliver the rental agreement to us the following day. When we did not receive the agreement, we called the realtor and was told that everything was fine, for us not to worry and that he had not had the time to deliver the documents to us but would deliver them shortly. The realtor kept stalling and then a week before month end he finally told us that the house we had offered to rent had been sold by him in the interim. Since we had 7 days in which to find a place to move, the realtor again offered to rent us his house at a slightly reduced price (at a price still more expensive than what we had originally told him). Granted, we might have been able to find alternative housing in the short time available but with less than a week to go before we were homeless, we felt we had to take the realtor's house.
We move in and the pool is not working....for 6 weeks....
Six months later....after a long hot summer, our lease is up and we give notice that we are moving out. We hired a nationally known cleaning company to clean the house, the oven, floors etc. and had a gardener work on the grounds. Although the carpets looked clean and since we had dogs, we also had the carpets cleaned. We did a walk through with the owner/realtor and was told how pleased he was with the condition of the house but that the garden neeeded further care since some plants had died over the summer and some leaves needed to be blown out. We completed a Move Out Inspection Sheet and he checked off "Satisfactory" for most of the catagories which was signed off by him and by us. He gave us a copy (with two pages missing). The owner asked that the floors be remopped in the living room so we again brought in the same cleaning company. The house is now listed for sale and we have received a letter from the owner with our deposit refund less costs for carpet cleaning, cleaning of tile grout(about $700), cost for replacement of plants, gardening services of $550.00 (separate charges from work done by the gardner and the owner) along with several minor additonal items. Also included was another copy of the Move Out Inspection Sheet which had been altered from the original one that we had signed and agreed to. Given that we lived in the house for 6 months, would not some normal wear and tear be expected? additonally, under the California Landlord tenant act, I believe we would not normally be expected to pay for carpet cleaning, much less cleaning of grout lines in the tile. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

Things in Oklahoma are a tad bit different from Cali, I'd guess. Here you do have to clean the carpet -- which you did, and you should have receipts for.

Now, the realtor was the owner of the house you rented for the entire 6 months, and he's the guy not returning your deposit -- ??? (just want to be clear)

Did you have a Move-In Inspection sheet - where you listed defects, damages, repairs that were needed then? And if you did, did this realtor/owner sign that at the time? And did you keep an executed copy?

What bothers me about your experience: 1) the heavy-handed way the realtor tried to push you toward his house; 2) the missing pages of the Move Out Inspection Sheet (and you should have demanded those at the time); and 3) the overall slimy behavior of the realtor (sure doesn't help our profession's image). You might want to tell your story to his broker and even whatever board of realtors in which he is a member. That's how things would be handled here.

(I own rental property that I manage myself, altho' the realty co. where my license hangs has a co-located property mgmt co.)


Good luck!

Let this person know that you will be sending copies of the altered report to the California Real Estate Commission if they do not refund your money. Altering documents could get this person in some serious trouble.

Thanks for input and advice, particularly about contacting his broker and the California Real Estate Commission.
To answer the questions above, the realtor was also the owner of the house that we rented and they did return a portion of the deposit. At the time we rented the house we did complete a Move-In Inspection sheet that was signed by us and the owner/realtor (we do have copies). At the time we moved in, the house appeared clean enough (althogh not in showroom condition) but had not been cleaned professionally nor had the carpets been cleaned. The owner/realtor (and his cat)had been living in the house up until the day we moved in and in fact stored his furniture in the garage for 2 weeks after we had moved in (we did agree to that, so we cant fault him for that).
Again, thanks for the advice. We'll send a letter to the owner/realtor outlining the above and see what happens....

Let us know how this works out, okay? And good luck!