Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

First, a 30 day notice to terminate is not the correct notice. A 30 day notice may only be used to terminate your tenancy where you have lived in the property for less-than one year. As I read your email, you have lived there for over one year, and therefore he must give you a sixty day notice to terminate your tenancy. That, however, assumes that you do not have a term lease, but rather have a month-to-month tenancy.

When the lease term expired in September 2010, you either became a month-to-month tenant, or you extended the term of the lease for another year. Because you did not sign a new lease or an extension of the written lease, it is going to be difficult for you to prove that you did agree to a new one-year renewal term. It's subject to a "he said, she said" argument in court, and a judge will have to decide who he believes. Because written leases are generally extended with another written agreement, the burden may be difficult to overcome to prove that you did intend for the lease to be renewed for another full year. If you can prove the lease term is good through September 2011, then he cannot even give you a sixty day notice, but rather must evict you for some other breach of the lease such as not paying rent.

With respect to the issue of rent for wages, that is generally not legal. The Employment Development Department will have a lot to say about this issue, but as soon as you turn them on to deal with this, you will not want to be living in the same house with your employer. I would suggest moving out, then contacting EDD to file a wage complaint for unpaid past wages. Finally, with respect to the other bills paid, unless that was part of the original lease agreement, then it is an entirely separate debt you will have to resolve with him. Good luck - I would strongly suggest that the best thing you can do is find a new place to live and move on.

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