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Roommate vs. Roommate evicitions ?

Asked Oct 4, 2006, 03:38 PM — 13 Answers
I am on a lease to rent a room.
I found another person to rent the other room.
I have lived at this house for 3 years.
He has lived here for two months.
I want him out because he is a nuisance.
My rights as a tenant does not specifically state me as a Principle Tenant, but I've been here the longest.
The property office have no signature from him as a person who leases.
When I rented to him, it was verbal.

I served him a 30 day notice to terminate, but I know he is not going to leave.
If we go to court, I have no written approval from landlord to act as Principle tenant, other than the factthat I have lived here since 2004 and I have a signature of lease with the property office.

Will the court dismiss my case because I am not consented as principle tenant?
I know that verbal agreements are legal and that even people w/o a written contract have certain rights also.
I am afraid to have a losing case that would be a waste of my time and money.
I am 36, work two jobs, and go to night school. He is 24, works maybe six days a month and goes to school.

Also, he brought a pet into the house when the contract lease says no pets w/o consent of landlord.
If he is not on lease then does that clause affect him?

The property office say that they do not want to get involved with this, dismissing this as personal conflict issue.

What can I do?
Lawyers want 800 bucks which I don't have.
Filing complaint in court cost 300 bucks.

I am doing this by myself.......stuck w/o lawyer.

Need some help

I live in Santa Cruz, California....

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13 Answers
ScottGem's Avatar
ScottGem Posts: 58,571, Reputation: 28375
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#11

Oct 5, 2006, 04:20 PM


See what Lisa said, which is what I was getting at. Since the roommate is paying direct to the LL, then the landlord is aware of their presence and has tacitly accepted their presence. In this case, you are essentially equal tenants, there is not "primary" tenant.
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ScottGem's Avatar
ScottGem Posts: 58,571, Reputation: 28375
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#12

Oct 5, 2006, 04:22 PM


The roomie is paying to the LL therefore they are an equal tenant. The LL has given tacit approval by accepting their payments. Therefore the LL is the only one that can evict them.
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RickJ's Avatar
RickJ Posts: 10,075, Reputation: 4374
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#13

Oct 6, 2006, 05:02 AM
You may be best off seeking local legal advice. In my state things are not at all as others describe. If I rent to Joe and he has Jim move in - and I don't add him to the lease, then I cannot evict only Jim and neither can Joe. My only option is to evict them both. And worse yet, if Joe moves out and Jim stops paying the rent then my eviction must name Joe "and all other occupants".

This is true no matter who pays the rent. The name on the check for the rent payment has nothing to do with who the legal resident/tenant is.
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ScottGem's Avatar
ScottGem Posts: 58,571, Reputation: 28375
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#14

Oct 6, 2006, 05:16 AM


Just to clarify, Rick, I think you are missing a point here. I agree it doesn't matter who is paying the rent, but it does matter who the rent is being paid to. In your scenario, If Jim pays Joe, then Jim is Joe's tenant, not the LL's. However, if Jim pays the LL and the LL accepts payments from Jim, then they are giving tacit approval to Jim's occupancy and accepting him as a tenant. So, even if his name is not on the lease, absent a specific agreement between Jim and Joe, any eviction is handled by the LL.
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