On July 13, 2009, Seeger Salvas filed a class action lawsuit against one of San Francisco's largest landlords, CitiApartments. The lawsuit is brought on behalf of CitiApartments' former tenants whose security deposits were not refunded in compliance with California law. Read the Complaint here, or at the end of this page. Click here for a list of the CitiApartments entities who are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Click here for a list of some of the apartment buildings that these entities own (or used to own).
Despite admitting that its tenants are entitled to a full refund of their security deposit, CitiApartments has been illegally withholding the uncontested security deposits for months after the tenants move out of their apartments. When Class Members contact CitiApartments to assert their legal right to have the uncontested security deposit refunded within 21 days, CitiApartments harasses and threatens them, tell them that there is a long list of people to whom security deposits are owed, and tell them that if they want to get their security deposit back, they should file a lawsuit in Small Claims Court.
An example of CitiApartments' conduct is Plaintiff Joy Anderson, a single mother of an 8-year old son who rented an apartment from CitiApartments for five years. After taking classes at San Francisco City College, Ms. Anderson moved to Oakland to begin pursuing a degree at Mills College. When Ms. Anderson moved out of her San Francisco apartment on May 27th, CitiApartments' agent did a "walk-through" with her and told her that everything was in order and that the landlord would refund her full security deposit of $1,500.00, money she needed to pay for college. After more than a month had passed, Ms. Anderson heard nothing from CitiApartments. She left several messages for CitiApartments, but they were not returned. She then went to CitiApartments office to ask when her deposit would be refunded. CitiApartments acknowledged that she was entitled to a full refund of her security deposit, but they refused to provide her with a refund. When she asked them to tell her when the refund would be made, the CitiApartments employee became hostile. In front of her eight-year old son, he threatened to call the police if Ms. Anderson did not leave the office. He told her that she should talk to a lawyer about getting her security deposit refunded.
Another example is Plaintiff Nicolas Harr, who also rented an apartment from CitiApartments for three and a half years. When Mr. Harr moved out of his apartment on April 1st, CitiApartments' agent did a "walk-through" with him and told him that everything was in order and that CitiApartments would refund his full security deposit of $2,820.00. But then he never received the deposit. Over the last two months, Mr. Harr has spoken to several of CitiApartments' agents, and each of them confirmed that Mr. Harr is entitled to a refund of his entire security deposit. Nevertheless, none of CitiApartments agents will even tell Mr. Harr when his security deposit will be refunded. Instead, they told him that he should file a lawsuit in Small Claims Court if he wants his security deposit refunded. Three months have now passed since CitiApartments promised Mr. Harr that he would receive his security deposit, and CitiApartments refuses to even return Mr. Harr's calls.
Ms. Anderson and Mr. Harr are not alone. Instead, CitiApartments has a business practice of wrongfully withholding tenants' security deposits in blatant violation of California law.
Tenants Have Legal Rights
Civil Code section 1950.5 requires that, within 21 days after a tenant moves out, that the landlord send the tenant an itemized statement of any deductions from the security deposit and refund the balance. The law also provides a mechanism to deal with rogue landlords like CitiApartments. It allows the Court to order a landlord who withholds a security deposit in bad faith to pay statutory damages of up to two times the original deposit plus the actual damages suffered by the tenant.
In the lawsuit, Plaintiffs request the Court to order CitiApartments and its affiliated companies and owners to refund security deposits in compliance with California law and to pay statutory damages to each Class Member in the amount of two times the amount of the security deposit plus actual damages. Plaintiffs also request the Court to order the Defendants to institute proper mechanisms to ensure that, in the future, Defendants' employees refund security deposits in compliance with California law.
We'd Like To Hear From You
If your landlord is refusing to refund your security deposit within the time required by law, we'd like to hear your story. Please click here to submit your information to us. (Please be aware that submitting your information to us does not create an attorney-client relationship. We cannot serve as your attorney in any matter unless you and our firm expressly agree, in writing, that we will serve as your attorney.)
