Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Roommate refuses to sign papers

Your lease is a multi-party contract that binds each of you to participate in one way or another in the lease, and it cannot be altered or set aside without the consent of all parties; except, however, if a party has breached the contract, as your co-tenants may have done, the breach may entitle you to rescind.

It's hard to tell from the facts given whether the rats and other conditions that are upsetting you are breaches by the co-tenants. Therefore, I can't go quite so far as to tell you it's OK to move out and ignore the possibility that the co-tenants would sue you for your portion of the lease payments. However, you could certainly consider this, keeping in mind that if you're sued you better have a pretty good story and pretty credible evidence against the co-tenants. Also, unless you get a written release from the landlord, he could also sue you for the rent.

If the leased premises are fairly expensive and the lease has several months to run, you should consider seeing a local real-estate attorney for an opinion as to whether your facts would vindicate your considering the co-tenants in breach and thus justifying your departure and non-participation in rent.