Question

Jeff Kase and his wife, Caren, have spent two months looking at apartments in Los Angeles. But every apartment they've seen has been too expensive, or too tiny, or too rodent-infested. When Jeff is driving home from work one day, he sees a "For Rent" sign in front of an apartment complex in a nice neighborhood. He uses his cell to call the number on the sign, and the landlord happens to live upstairs, and can show Jeff the apartment immediately. The good news is, Jeff loves it and the landlord says he can hold it with a deposit until Jeff's wife can see it. The bad news is that Caren is out of town until the next evening, so that's the earliest she can see it. The landlord tells Jeff that, unfortunately, the lease agreements for all his properties specify that lease deposits are "nonrefundable."
Which of the following statements is true of this situation?
a. It is the choice of the property owner/landlord regarding whether a lease deposit is refundable or not; so this is within the landlord’s authority.b. It is illegal for rental security deposits in California to be labeled as "nonrefundable," under any circumstances.c. The regulations vary regarding furnished and unfurnished apartments in California: If the apartment is furnished, then the landlord has the right to keep the deposit and mark it as nonrefundable. If the apartment is unfurnished, the deposit may be refunded at the landlord’s discretion.d. In California, prospective tenants have a 48-hour period in which they may back out of a lease agreement and receive their FULL deposit returned. They must receive this deposit in the same form in which it was given (check, cash, or as a credit to their credit card) at the time of the cancellation.

Answer 1

Answer:

b. It is illegal for rental security deposits in California to be labeled as "nonrefundable," under any circumstances.

Explanation:

In the state of California, it is illegal to specify rental security deposits as nonrefundable. As a consequence, the landlord should not have kept the lease deposit. In fact, he should have either waited until Caren was able to see the apartment the next evening or given the money back to Jeff.