Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

breaking the lease

Me, my roommate signed one

year lease. but we couldn't bear

each other. we finally reached a

point where we cant live with each

other. But the problem was we still

are bound by the lease that we cant

get out of the apartment. if we break

the lease, we have to give up our

deposit which is $1495 and pay one

month rent. so i didn't want to move

out cause i didn't want to give up

deposit and pay more money. but my

roommate packed her stuff and just

moved out . i was going to find

another roommate but i felt like it

wasn't fair and couldn't handle all

responsibility by myself. so i decided

to move out and give up deposit and

pay the rent fee. but the apt says

they will charge us with march and

april cause even if we moved our all

stuff out, we are still bound to the

lease, which makes us we are still

the responsible for this month rent. i

don't know at this point what to do.

in my position, my roommate just

left me and gave all the

responsibilities without taking

responsible for anything.if i want

to move out, the apartment gonna

charge us 2 months rent and giving

up deposit. either option is unfair.


Asked on 3/06/09, 1:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Re: breaking the lease

You do not give us the date the lease started so my answer is speculative. If the lease ends at the end of April, the why not stay until then and not lose the deposit? If you move now you will have to pay rent some where else. So figure out what the difference in money would be.

When the landlord is able to rent the apartment out, you money obligation to him ends, as he is not allowed to collect rent from two different people for the same period of time. He is only entitled to collect what his actual losses are from no one being in the apartment. On the other hand, your former roommate is still liable for 1/2 of the entire rent; you could go to small claims court to get a judgment but does the roommate have any assets you can go against to pay the judgment?

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Answered on 3/06/09, 10:46 am


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