I’ve had to take landlords to court before to recover a security deposit. The beautiful thing about renting in California is according to Civil code 1950.5 the landlord has 21 days to give back your deposit or an itemized statement with the damages and the remaining deposit. If 21 days goes by and they do not return it and you have to take them to court you are allowed to sue them for twice the deposit plus the original damages (the problem is collecting from a deadbeat). Look up California Civil code 1950.5:
(l) The bad faith claim or retention by a landlord or the landlord’s successors in interest of the security or any portion thereof in
violation of this section, or the bad faith demand of replacement security in violation of subdivision (j), may subject the landlord or
the landlord’s successors in interest to statutory damages of up to twice the amount of the security, in addition to actual damages.
