Return of Deposit under multiple tenant lease

[rsevcik]

My daughter signed a lease as one of multiple tenants. The lease term was one year and each tenant was required to pay an equal portion of the initial deposit however we supplied the cashier's check for the total amount to the manager. At the end of the lease term my daughter gave 30 days notice and vacated the apartment. The apartment manager is stating that they won't refund our deposit till all of the original tenants vacate even the original lease term has expired and the tenants that are staying will be issued a new lease and will be taking on a new tenant in place of my daughter. The apartment is located in Santa Monica, California. Is there a law protecting a tenant's right for a refund of their deposit in the case of multiple tenants where all do not vacate at the same time. Given that the existing and new tenants will be signing a new lease shouldn't the manager refund the original deposit and require a new deposit? Do we have any right to the return of our deposit?
Thanks for your help.

 

[mightymoose]

This sounds exactly like the other post just below this one.

If a new lease is being signed then you should be able to get your deposit returned and return equal shares to the other tenants... and they can then, with the new tenant, give it right back to the landlord for deposit.

Or... your daughter can obtain half of her deposit from each of the remaining tenants. Those tenants can then claim the same amount from the new tenant. In this case the landlord holds the current deposit which will still be refundable to all three tenants. This gets messy, but it works if documented well.