Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
Roommate not on lease wants deposit back
My niece and three of her friends rented a house. Only one of the roommates signed the one year lease. The security deposit was $1,600, which the landlord gave them a few months to come up with. They pooled their money and gave it all to the one individual on the lease who then gave it to the landlord. Everyone moved in in October 2005 with the agreement that the rent would be split 3 ways (3 bedrooms). One of the roommates decided to move out in February (gave 30 day notice and stayed until Feb 28th paying February's rent). Now the roomate that moved out is demanding his share of the deposit back from the other roommates since that is who he gave it to. The landlord said she would in fact return his deposit when the one year is up but the roommate is still demanding his money back from the roommate on the lease. Do the remaining roommates have an obligation to return the deposit? They never actually kept the money. Does the 1 year verbal lease on this departed roommates behalf apply? Who is responsible for refunding the deposit if any? Any assistance you could provide would be sincerely appreciated. This departed roommate is threatening legal action.
Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Roommate not on lease wants deposit back
Essentially, all three contributed to the security deposit, so upon renting the now vacant room, you'll have to collect 1/3 the deposit from any new tenant. Once, that is collected, sumbit that money to the tenant who moved out, less any charges for clean-up, etc.
Typically, since the deposit was tendered to the LL by all three roommates, the LL is responsible for it, not the roommates. I suggest proposing the above solution to the security deposit problem and leave the LL out of it.
Good Luck.
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