Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
Hello,
I am a college student in southern California and in great need of some legal assistance regarding moving out of an apartment. I saw a post made at lawguru.com (http://www.lawguru.com/legal-questions/california-landlord-tenant/pet-deposit-moving-security-additional-262189163/a) regarding a person leaving an apartment after the expiration of their term lease agreement. My girlfriend and I are in a similar position! Our term lease agreement ended April 30, 2010. In our lease agreement it is stated that, "Said tenancy shall automatically convert to a month-to-month tenancy upon the expiration date of the fixed term in paragraph 1 above [April 30, 2010]" For this reason we will be leaving May 31, 2010 without renewing the lease (a 30 days notice has been given to the Realtor who works for the landlord; we were going to give a 60 day notice but the landlord said to only give a 30 day notice). On the other hand, one of our roommates wants to continue living on the premises after May 31, 2010. With this comes a few issues: 1) the security deposit is said to stay with the apartment and, therefore, the new roommates will be paying us our part of the security deposit (this is fine), however my girlfriend and I solely paid a $500 pet deposit and we have been told that this pet deposit cannot be returned to us until everyone leaves the premises. I see this as unfair because the pet will be leaving as will the 2 individual who paid the deposit, therefore the realty office will withhold a pet deposit which can be used later by the remaining and new tenants. Am I correct? Is there any way for us to get our pet deposit back? Is the withholding of this pet deposit in violation of tort law?
2) What's worse, the realtor (he is not the landlord but the realtor who runs things for the landlord) has stated to us that since we signed a joint lease (joint and several liability clause) with the other roommate, we will be unable to leave the premises unless said roommate agrees to renew the lease himself (because he wants to continue living there) or if his new roommates are approved and placed on a new lease. Thus, if his roommates are not approved and he decides to stay at the apartment, without renewing the lease or creating a new one, then we cannot remove ourselves from the lease and our names will remain on the lease even though our lease term agreement has expired. Furthermore, he has stated that if this were to occur, and the remaining roommate did not pay the next months lease, we would ALL get eviction notices; even if my girlfriend and I gave a 30 days notice to leave on May 31, 2010 and stated that we would not be liable for any fees afterwards. Apparently, as long as said roommate wishes to stay then the lease cannot be terminated even if it has expired since one of the original tenants is still residing on the premises; unless said roommate wishes to renew the lease on his own which would require a credit check for approval. Is this true? Is there absolutely nothing we can do? I feel trapped in this apartment unless the other roommate also leaves. Yet I feel robbed since I signed the term lease agreement for only 1 year.
We appreciate your time!
P.S. For your info: Rent= $1295.00/mo, Security Deposit=$900, Pet deposit=$500
1 Answer from Attorneys
This is a common problem with roommate arrangements. The landlord and the agent are right. If the third roommate refuses to leave and refuses to sign a new lease, the landlord is under no obligation to return any of the deposit and can proceed against all of you for eviction, rents, etc. You would have a right to counter sue the third roommate for indemnity and possibly other causes of action, but as between you and the landlord, the landlord has the right to hold you all jointly responsible for the lease, and any holding over. I'm not sure why you feel robbed, you formed a de facto partnership to rent the apartment and agreed that if the lease was not terminated you would continue to live there and pay month to month. If you wanted to, you could probably bring some kind of proceeding against the third roommate to force them to take out their own lease or vacate with you, but you don't really have time for that, and the cost would be prohibitive. You really need to get your third roommate to step up to the plate and do the right thing, or all three of you are going to be in a big mess and the landlord will have the right to evict all of you and collect rent and damages.
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