Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Sublease dispute, no written contract

Your roommate has every right to demand that you pay the rent in full. After you move out, they have a short period of time to return the balance of the security deposit and account for how it was used.

Re: Sublease dispute, no written contract

First, an oral agreement is fully enforceable, unless the term of the lease was more than one year. It sounds as though you had a month-to-month rental, so the agreement is valid.

Next, an agreement to provide a security deposit is usually interpreted to be an agreement to maintain the full amount in place for the entire term of the rental. Indeed, as Mr. Starrett points out, your landlady doesn't have to refund the deposit until three weeks after you have completely moved out. See Civil Code section 1950.5(g).

A few rental agreements specifically allow the deposit to be applied to the last month's rent, and the two of you were free to contract for this, either in writing or as part of your oral contract. However, more likely than not, this wasn't discussed, so you can't expect now to have your deposit applied to your last month's rent. Even if it were discussed and agreed upon, it would be your word against hers before the small-claims judge, and absent any evidence other than conflicting oral testimony, the judge would correctly assume that the "usual" lease provision applies.