House changed Property managers....who gives us the deposit back?

[mrslunar]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

The house we rented was managed by a property manager. If it makes any difference, there was a property manager who was hired by the Trustee of the estate. The trustee of the estate, in turn, was hired by the owner (the man who inherited the house).

We dealt with the property manager and were never given the information for who the other two people are.

When we moved out the trustee and/or owner changed property management companies. It appears that the new property manager did the minor repairs that needed to be done on the house and that the company we dealt with had nothing to do with the house once we moved out.

However, we've been in contact with them regarding the deposit. At first they said they were keeping it then recanted and said they'd refund our "portion" within the 21 day time limit.

Today is the 21st day and the property management company we dealt with said that they don't have a check and can't get ahold of the owner to find out how much to write the check for and therefore don't have to give us our deposit back.

I know this obviously isn't legal. My question, though, is how responsible is the former property manager for all this? Who exactly is responsible for giving us the check and who should we be dealing with? Would we have to sue the property manager we dealt with or..??

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

The house we rented was managed by a property manager. If it makes any difference, there was a property manager who was hired by the Trustee of the estate. The trustee of the estate, in turn, was hired by the owner (the man who inherited the house).

We dealt with the property manager and were never given the information for who the other two people are.

When we moved out the trustee and/or owner changed property management companies. It appears that the new property manager did the minor repairs that needed to be done on the house and that the company we dealt with had nothing to do with the house once we moved out.

However, we've been in contact with them regarding the deposit. At first they said they were keeping it then recanted and said they'd refund our "portion" within the 21 day time limit.

Today is the 21st day and the property management company we dealt with said that they don't have a check and can't get ahold of the owner to find out how much to write the check for and therefore don't have to give us our deposit back.

I know this obviously isn't legal. My question, though, is how responsible is the former property manager for all this? Who exactly is responsible for giving us the check and who should we be dealing with? Would we have to sue the property manager we dealt with or..??

**A: whomever you paid the deposit to or their hired agent is required to return your deposit.

 

[Zigner]

ULTIMATELY, the owner is responsible. When you sue, name the owner and both property management companies. The court will sort it out.

 

[HomeGuru]

ULTIMATELY, the owner is responsible. When you sue, name the owner and both property management companies. The court will sort it out.

**A: and the Trustee. And sue for 3 times the deposit.

 

[FarmerJ]

Just in case it actually was sent wait till mondays mail comes before filing to sue in small claims court once in a while mail really is just plainly SLOW. if they got it out with in the 21 day mark it will have a post mark to tell you when it was canceled by post office system.