Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
My roommate falsified documents at the signing of the lease. It states my lease is null and void if information is incorrect. She will not move out of the apartment. I moved out a month and a half before the lease was up I paid everymonth to finish out the lease. However she is still in our apartment and I cannot get off the lease. she will not sign papers to release me from the lease or she will not renew the lease on her own. She stated she will just go month to month. I cant break the lease without her signature. I just paid my portion of the last months rent but as I have read I am still legally responsible. She also owns a cat which needs a deposit and payment monthly. I dont want to be responsible for it or any damage that can occur while I am still on the least. The property manager said, " My deposit will go in her name once I vacate the premises?" So if she dosent pay the rent I dont get my deposit back. Also is my credit effected since we recieve eviction warnings every month since she could never pay the rent? What happens to my portion of the deposit if she get evicted? She was recently arrested for impersonating someone else. I now realize that from the begining of this whole experience I have been lied to and decieved by this person who is just a con artist. Help what can I do? This has been a huge learning experience. We never had anything in writing as far as a roomate agreement it was only verbal and still that was broken.
1 Answer from Attorneys
I do not believe your landlord can hold you hostage to your roommate once the lease is up. You are jointly and severally liable for the lease, but he cant' force you to renew or go on month-to-month. Give notice as required by the lease that you are terminating the lease at the end, not going month-to-month. Because you jointly signed the lease, I am not sure if you are responsible to the landlord for her holding-over. Without researching it, I think not, but in any case he can't hold you to an expired lease. If you are liable to the landlord, he is still obligated to take reasonable steps to evict the roomate and re-let the property. He can't just let her live there and demand the rent from you.
Your deposit is more of a problem. Your best bet is to file a small claims action against your roommate and the landlord and let the court sort it out.
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