Apartment leases may cause legitimate legal concerns

By Dorothy Augustyniak
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]

One-third of the cases that Student Legal Services have handled
this year involve landlord/tenant problems, many of which deal with
issues of security deposits, say those who work in the office.

Some students searching for apartments say their managers and
landlords are not providing them with documented proof of their
security deposits, as required by law.

Students most at risk of losing money from their security
deposits are those who replace other tenants in a building without
proper documentation, said Elizabeth Kemper, director of Student
Legal Services.

Nearly a dozen managers in Westwood were contacted, and all
declined to comment on the issue.

One of the most common consequences students suffer is having to
pay extra money for damages they weren’t responsible for
because they don’t have proof that the damages were made
prior to their moving in.

According to Kemper, a lease must have a provision giving
approval for one tenant to replace another. But not all leases
contain an approval to have a tenant replaced, she said.

To avoid being taken advantage of, Kemper said, anyone who moves
out should sign a document with the manager’s signature, in
which they turn over their security deposit to the new tenant.

At the same time, the new tenant pays the amount of the security
deposit to the old tenant through the manager and receives a
receipt as proof that a security deposit transaction was made.

“Having this document will ensure the security and peace
of mind of both the old and new tenant,” Kemper said.

Pejan Kaveeha, a third-year anthropology student, had a problem
with her security deposit. She said a manager told her to pay her
deposit to the tenant moving out without signing any documents.

“I found this apartment on Kelton (Avenue), and the
problem was that the manager would not give me any form of
documentation as proof that a security deposit was made,”
said Kaveeha, who decided not to live there.

Benjamin Garcia, a third-year political science student,
encountered the same problem with a different apartment
complex.

“Because the manager was not being professional about
simple matters like a security deposit, I did not consider the
apartment anymore,” he said.

Neither Garcia nor Kaveeha would comment about which apartment
complex they spoke of.

Information about deposits and roommate agreement documents can
be found on the Student Legal Services Web site at www.student
legal.ucla.edu.