Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
A friend of mine (seriously, not me) is currently renting an apartment near a college campus and turns over roommates regularly. This semester she's taken on two roommates and entered a contract with both (separately) agreeing to pay for utilities and cable internet/tv as long as they pay the rent (about $400 each, not including her). In other words, she's subleasing (if I understand this term correctly).
Recently she left the country for vacation with her family and the tenants felt this was an opportunity to be lax about payments. Upon her return, two weeks later, it became apparent that at least 1 of the 2 tenants intended not to pay. A few days later, his belongings were gone and he was never to be seen or heard from again.
Luckily, as I mentioned before, she did have both tenants enter a contractual agreement with her and she's interested in pursuing legal action to recover the one month of rent the "flaker" defaulted on. Hopefully the contract is valid, having only taken a few legal courses, I can't say for certain even if I looked at it.
What are her options?
1 Answer from Attorneys
She can sue the flake for the unpaid rent, but only after it's due (each month). She also has to make efforts to find a new tenant to mitigate her damages. So, it may be easiest to sue once the place is re-rented, so she knows what her damages are. The statute of limitations for contracts, by the way, is four years on written agreements and two years on oral agreements.
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