Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I recently subleased my room in an apartment to a young man who will be called Bob. There were no problems the first month of his stay. However, the other roommates are skeptical to his social life because there is reason to believe he is selling drugs out of his room. He does not like to use the front door to enter the apartment, he climbs through his window and leave it open. His friends enter through the window as well. His friends have no respect for the property of others in the apartment (wear their clothes, eats their food, etc.) Over the past weekend, the entire apartment was ransacked and robbed. SEVERAL expensive possessions were stolen and the entire place is trashed. All the roommates believe it was Bob or Bob's friends. His sublease doesn't end until the end of August. Is there a way to end the contract now? His lifestyle is dangerous to the roommate's well-being and he is very disruptive. We cannot physically prove that Bob is to blame for the robbery. What can we do?


Asked on 7/06/10, 2:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
David Gibbs The Gibbs Law Firm, APC

You can try to evict him for violation of either express (written) covenants in the lease, or implied covenants. Effectively, if by his conduct he is denying you the peaceful enjoyment of your rental, then you may be able to evict him. This is not an easy means of evicting someone. You will want to consult and hire a local attorney to represent you in evicting him for two reasons. First, you want to make sure it is done correctly the first time so you don't lose, and are now living with a really angry roomate with dangerous propensities. Second, use of an attorney places a bit of a buffer between you and the roommate during the eviction, so your attorney can handle negotiations with him. Understand, however, that a contested eviction may take you through mid-August to result in a eviction. Evictions are not instantaneous.

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Answered on 7/08/10, 4:52 pm


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