My Dad would like to break a rental agreement

[itzme52]

My Dad has been renting a house for 3 years. 2 years ago he added a roommate to the lease which expired on Jan. 31, 2008. He has been having problems getting the roommate to pay rent on time and has decided to move. He found a new place through the comapany he is already renting through. He gave notice on his current house, put a deposit on the new place and gave notice (30days) to the roommate 2 days ago. Yesterday the rental company called him to say that he and the roommate have to give notice at the same time and are both responsible for rent until the roommate also signs off on the rental agreement. The roommate wants to stay until Jan. 31, 2010 which will cause my Dad to pay rent on 2 places at once. If the lease is up and they are on a month-to-month can my Dad just give 30 day notice to both rental co. and roommate and be on his way or is he bound to the roommate until he decides to sign off?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

In the absence of a written lease, a tenant is considered to be a month to month renter (sometimes known as having a "tenancy at will" in some states). This typically requires a 30 day written notice on the part of the tenant (in California) to terminate the lease (I'm assuming your father pays rent on a monthly basis).

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/moving-out.shtml

One question your father could ask management is since there is no lease in effect (unless the original lease had a clause that it would continue until all parties involved in this provided written documentation for termination), what rental agreement?

Gail

 

[itzme52]

Hi Gail,
Thanks for your reply. My Dad was told by the management that until both he and his roommate give notice together he is obligated to stay. Sounds to me like he is being held hostage. Can they do this. Isn't it sufficient that he gives both 30 notice? I did read the web page you supplied and unfortunately it does not address a roommate situation.

Thanks

 

[jharris352]

I would think the management company is wrong. A lease is a contract and when one party changes the entire contract changes. An unwritten lease is still a contract that is renewable every month (thus they call it month to month).

You can not FORCE someone to renew because the other party wants to renew. That is silly. What if your dad's friend wanted to stay until January 2020? Would your dad be obligated to stay? Of course not. Tell the management company that he will be leaving at the end of his 30 days. (Now they may fight you for any deposit, but you didn't ask about that.)