california residential-lease landlord rent
Can a landlord dictate where I can park when moving in/out of an apartment?
<p>I recently moved out of a room that I rented in a house in Oakland, California. In my lease it under terms of vacating the premise my landlord added a clause stating: </p>

<p>"All moving must be done in rear of driveway or pay $250 (near basement door)"</p>

<p>However, my parent's truck was too large to fit in his driveway and back up to place designated, so my parents parked in the street and we packed everything up in the street (taking about 45 minutes). The landlord showed up on the premise during the last ~10-15 minutes of moving and cleaning the room. He told me that I was not supposed to park there, and stated that he told me this the day before. However, I told him (person-to-person) two days prior to moving out, that I was moving out Friday morning and requested the driveway clear, which he obliged; however, he stated nothing about where I could or couldn't park. </p>

<p>I also asked him if he would do a walk-through of the room with me, to verify any damages, after I moved and cleaned the room out, which he did not do while I was present and simply stated "I'm sure it's fine" -- he also refused to do a pre-move-out inspection that's in written as a Right in my lease.</p>

<p>My question: Is this actually enforceable, since I did park in a public space and not necessarily on his property? </p>

<p>I had trouble with this landlord since I moved into the house. I have a brief write up of my concerns posted <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/oakland/comments/3c5tve/where_to_turn_to_when_landlord_doesnt_return/" rel="nofollow">here on Reddit</a> prior to my move. I did follow through with what was suggested in the thread (take photos, document, save texts, etc.), but I've yet to talk to a lawyer, as I don't think it's quite that time</p>

<p>It will be three weeks since I moved out on the August 21st. I'm going to wait a week until the 28th to send him a certified letter requesting my full deposit be returned if it already hasn't, and if I don't hear anything back I'll probably be taking him to small claims court.</p>

<h2>Agreement</h2>
<p>You say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>my landlord added a clause stating: &quot;All moving must be done in rear of driveway or pay $250 (near basement door)&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Was this addition made at the time you signed the lease or subsequently? This matters because the terms of a contract cannot be changed unilaterally, they must be agreed. If the change happened after the lease was signed then , unless you agreed to it, it has no effect whatsoever.</p>
<p>Since that resolution is boring; I will assume that it was always there.</p>
<h2>Enforcability</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Is this actually enforceable, since I did park in a public space and not necessarily on his property?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, it is enforceable. People can agree in a contract to do (or not do) anything so long as that thing is not illegal - that is what a contract is; a legally enforceable agreement for two people to do certain things.</p>
<p>You agreed &quot;All moving must be done in rear of driveway ... (near basement door)&quot; and you didn't do what you agreed to do. Therefore you broke a term of the contract. It doesn't matter that you don't know why he wanted you to do this or if it was reasonable or if it meant that you couldn't use your parent's truck - if these were issues for you they should have been raised before you agreed to do it. If the clause said &quot;When moving out you will wear a blue double breasted suit with a yellow and purple bow tie&quot; then that is what you must do.</p>
<h2>Consequences</h2>
<p>There are a number of options open to the wronged party when the other party breaches a term of a contract. The most relevant in these circumstances is to sue for damages.</p>
<p>So how much are damages? Well, they are an amount to restore the wronged party to the position they would have been in if you hadn't broken the agreement.</p>
<p>In situations where damages can be hard to calculate, contracts can make a provision for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidated_damages" rel="nofollow noreferrer">liquidated damages</a>; a pre-agreed amount of what the damage will be: in this case &quot;$250&quot;. However:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the United States, Section 2-718(1) of the Uniform Commercial Code provides that, in contracts for the sale of goods:</p>
<p>Damages for breach by either party may be liquidated in the agreement but only at an amount which is reasonable in the light of the anticipated or actual harm caused by the breach, the difficulties of proof of loss, and the inconvenience or nonfeasibility of otherwise obtaining an adequate remedy. A term fixing unreasonably large liquidated damages is void as a penalty.</p>
<p>This largely mirrors the common law rule, which applies to other types of contracts under the law of most US states.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the face of it, it would appear that $250 may be &quot;unreasonably large&quot; given the nature of the breach where it appears that the landlord has actually suffered no damage.</p>
