Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I am leasing a house in California with my boyfriend, and we have sublet one of the rooms out to a guy. He signed the lease stating it would be month to month and he was required to give us a 30 day notice before terminating his tenancy.
He paid one month of rent as a security deposit, and then handed me a second check for his first month (though he was 3 days late).
His stated move in date was December 1, and now he has texted me his "official moving out notice" tonight December 5th. He said he wants/expects us to give back his security deposit in full as well as prorate his rent for the one week he was living here.
I told him that was unacceptable since his lease contract specifically says he is required to give us 30 days notice.
Here's the real issue. He's saying the reason he wants to leave is because I broke the contract. (I think he's trying to find a loophole because he'd rather live with his gf). He thinks that I am breaking the lease agreement because in the lease I said he was entitled to an overnight parking permit. However, I did not specify that he would need to change his car registration to our address (this is a city requirement). When I asked him to provide me with an updated registration, he said that would be a problem because the car was registered out of state and also belongs to his mom.
His argument is that since the contract says he is entitled to a parking permit and we can't give him one without him changing his address, that the lease is null/void.
To help ameliorate the situation, I told him that since he can't do on street parking, he could take a spot in our garage, or in the driveway for the remainder of the month. I also told him that I wasn't trying to capitalize on the situation, and if we found another tenant to fill in for the rest of the month, I would gladly refund his money/prorate it accordingly.
I feel like this is a bit of a legal grey area for me, since I didn't WRITE in the lease (I told him in person) that he would need to update his car registration.
If he takes legal action, am I going to be the one going down?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Seems to me that your position is reasonable and consistent with California's landlord-tenant law. Small-Claims courts are somewhat unpredictible, due to the relative inexperience of the judges as well as the informal nature of the proceedings. Also, I haven't heard the tenant's side of the story. Nevertheless, I'd guess you'f win, based both upon the strict factual situation and on your reasonable and intelligent approach.
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