I was a commercial tenant who for 8 years leased an office from a landlord who continually refused any of my service requests. Upon her refu...

Question

I was a commercial tenant who for 8 years leased an office from a landlord who continually refused any of my service requests. Upon her refusal of my last service request on 02/01/11, I provided her with notice that I was moving out. I moved out 15 days later on 02/15/11. On 05/26/11, I was served to appear in small claims court. We appeared in court and the judge was in possession of a letter from her dated 04/28/11 (73 days after I moved out) which I never received which claimed that she had paid a carpet cleaner $300 to clean the 13 year old carpets (after I had them cleaned), hired an attorney for an unlawful detainer action in May, two months after I had moved out. As per the lease she had to return my $1K deposit within 30 days of me moving out (which she didn't) and as per CA Civil Code 1950.7 she had 30 days to provide me with her list of repairs which she didn't. I received a written judgment in the mail which was against me and I will appeal. My question is how can she collect for attorney fees for attorney fees for an Unlawful detainer which was implemented 2 months after I moved out and was never served upon me?

Answer

I'm going to go out on a limb here and, if your statements are accurate, assert that your LL never served you with anything...no letter, no lawsuit, not a thing. If what you say is true, you were "sewer served," that is, the LL played very dirty. Your statement sounds concise and logical, suggesting that, if you have the evidence, you have a very strong defense and good grounds to prevail against your LL. You should contact an attorney and really go after this LL for unscrupulous conduct. If you prevail, you will have your chance to collect attorney fees. Good luck.....P

Answer

Judges in SCC hearings are infamous for making bad decisions. An unlawful detainer action can only be maintained while the non-owner is "detaining " the property. You need to show proof as to when you moved out, try to subpoena the attorney's billing sheets to show all the work was done after you had already left [the attorney will refuse to turn over his records at which point you should move in court to strike any evidence as to what hours or time the attorney is charging for since he would not give up the records showing what the facts are]. You might want to hire an attorney to give you advice as to what to do for your particular case. You can contact me if you wish; you may be able to claim attorney fees as a damage from not sending you the list of deductions.