Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Roommates are in a gray area of the law in this regard. They may be subtenants or they may be lodgers, legally. For purposes of your question, the difference is whether you must give 30 or 60 days notice, due to him living there more than a year. A lodger is a person who shares a living unit with the owner. If there is more than one lodger, they have the same rights as tenants when it comes to terminating the occupancy. A solo lodger, however, only needs to be given as much notice as the time between rent payments, and that does not change with length of occupancy. The trouble is, you are not the "owner" and the statute on solo lodger occupancy termination refers to "owner/occupants." A case can be made that you are legally in the same situation as the owner, since you are the sole leaseholder, and the law generally gives leaseholders the rights of owners as to everyone but the actual owner. If you want to save yourself legal hassle though, don't stand on a legal theory. As a subtenant he gets the same notice as a direct tenant - 60-days notice.