Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Evicting a roommate

I have lived in a house with four other roommates for about 15 months. There is one roommate who had trouble paying rent in the first year of our lease so when it came time to renew the lease, only 3 of us signed it (the 4th roommate is new) and did not have the one roommate with trouble paying rent sign the lease because we wanted the option of evicting him if he had rent troubles again. We are now about 3 months into our next 1yr lease and this roommate has again paid rent late and is overall a pain to live with. He takes stuff that does not belong to him, has troubles paying bills on time, etc...Since he is not on the lease, how do we go about evicting him? We live in Santa Barbara, California. Do we give a 30 day or 60 day notice,etc..? Also, where is a good place to get necessary forms? Thank you


Asked on 9/13/07, 2:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert L. Bennett Law offices of Robert L. Bennett

Re: Evicting a roommate

Since, your roommate is not on the lease, he is considered a subtenant to you and others on the lease, making you his landlord.

You can evict because of his inability to pay rent on time, and/or because of his alleged thievery.

You can give him 30 day notice to vacate (and state the reasons), but it is not a typical "Pay Rent or Quit" notice, because, if he pays, you have to start all over again next month. You can also give a 3 day notice, alleging "stealing", but you may have to prove his criminal acts, and that isn't always as easy as it sounds.

As to forms, there are numerous websites with forms, some free, most for a nominal charge, including excellent ones on this website. (Look under Legal Forms, Landlord Tenant, Notice to Vacate).

Make sure if you take a form from the net that it has all the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all the roommates on the lease.

Please feel free to e-mail, or call, my office if you need more.

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Answered on 9/13/07, 7:04 am


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