Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Termination of a lease

My 21 yr old son rented a college apt.,which had 3 roomates who had a previous 1 yr lease.When we went to move in the apt. was filthy,full of beer cans,a keg and some used illegal drug paraphernalia. He does'nt want to live in this enviroment. We wrote a letter stating that the lease is void due to illegal activity on the part of other tenants and the unsanitary living conditions and asked to terminate the lease.The mgr. told that it was not a breach of contract with the landlord and the only legal way to terminate the lease was to have the 3 roomates sign a release to remove my son from the lease. One of the roomates is refusing to sign. My son signed an intent to vacate form, gave the mgr. the keys, and we removed his property from the apt. His lease started on 7-14-08 and is for 1 yr. He never even stayed in the apt. We took pictures of the filthy apt. ,but do not have pictures of the drug pipes. There were 3 of us who saw the drug paraphernalia.

Can we terminate this lease? What should we do next?


Asked on 8/13/08, 4:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert L. Bennett Law offices of Robert L. Bennett

Re: Termination of a lease

Yes.

I would retain a lawyer, merely to write a letter, stating the facts as above.

With any luck, your deposit will be refunded (although you state nothing about paying rent and/or a deposit), and this will be over. If not, you will have to file against the landlord in small claims court.

Also, you need to send a certified letter(return receipt) regarding the above (although a lawyer's letter make this unnecessary).

All should be done ASAP, as there may be a daily charge from landlord.

Good luck!

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Answered on 8/14/08, 11:11 am


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