I live in california, in jan. 2011 i rented a travel trailer to live in , in a small mobile park, i paid one (1) years rent and the space deposit upon move in, which the manager asked for in 'cash'.
On march 5th 2011 i bought my own 5th wheel trailer and moved it into space 4 of the same mobile park, at such time i paid my balance up to cover my deposit and a years space rent. the manager said they would amend/update my month to month rental agreement and bring it to me for signatures.
on may 25th i gave 30days notice, on this day she brought over an amended reagreement changing my month to month to a yearly lease. i gave her notice prior to her handing that to me, and she accepted the 30 day notice. i moved my trailer on june 15th 2011 and cleaned my space, the manager came over and took pictyres said everything was great and that i would recieve my balance of $1533 (45 deposit & 1083 rent balance) in 21 days. to day, day 21 she sent me an email letter, unsigned and not on letter head and no name on the page anywhere, said it was from the owners, it said they were keeping 1000 for having me give up the space since i implied i'd be there and that was a breach of contract, they were going to charge me 300 a month for every month the space sent empty and charge me for the advertising of said space. is any of this even legal and how do i go about getting my deposit and rental money back
Answer
It does not appear there was ever a valid year long rental agreement. As long as it was a month to month lease you had to give only 30 days notice. Even if you did imply you would stay longer, that is not sufficient to renew the tenancy. They can not keep more than the rent up to 6/23 and have to refund you the rest as you do not owe any additional rent.
You probably need a sharp letter from an attorney to scare them into believing you would file suit against them, seeking twice the amount with held and your damages of attorney fees, etc. I charge $100 per hour for that type of work.
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