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momelne · Nov 9, 2011, 10:45 PM

I just moved a month ago with two roommates to LA. We all signed a 6 month lease and one of my roommates decided to leave and move home. We made sure that a 30 day notice was signed to provide to the landlord since there is no way that my other roommate and I can afford to live there on our own. Therefore, we have to break the lease. Since the roommate that left broke the lease leaving us no choice to break the lease as well. What are our rights? Can we get the roommate that left to pay for their portion of December's rent, their portion of utilites etc for the month of November? Can I sue in Small Claims court for all expenses that we will have in the next couple of weeks, including moving expenses? If it wasn't for the one roommate leaving we would be staying to finish up our school year. We are students and can't afford to stay now that we lost a roommate and now money that we don't have to get us out of the lease. Are there Civil Codes or Laws I can review?

LisaB4657 · Nov 9, 2011, 11:08 PM

If your lease is like most leases it has a "joint and several liability" clause. This means that all of you are responsible for the full amount of the rent until the landlord re-lets the property or the lease term ends, whichever occurs first. Plus, it means that the landlord can go after all of you jointly or he can choose to sue only one of you for the full amount.

If the landlord sues all 3 of you then all of you are equally responsible. If the landlord sues only 1 or 2 of you then the people who are sued would be responsible for paying the landlord and they could then sue the other people who were on the lease for their share.

So the answer to your question is yes, you can sue the roommate who left for their share of the rent.

Before you do anything, speak to the landlord. Maybe they will let you out of the balance of the lease in return for a nominal payment, such as giving up the security deposit. Or maybe they will allow you to find someone to take over the balance of the lease. Also, have you tried to find another roommate?

ScottGem · Nov 10, 2011, 04:48 AM

Originally Posted by momelne

Therefore, we have to break the lease.

It is not that simple. You have no grounds to break the lease, neither did your roommate. So the three of you remain responsible for the balance of the lease unless the landlord lets you out of the lease.

If this is college housing it may be impossible for the landlord to find a replacement tenant until the next semester, leaving the three of you on the hook for the balance of the lease.

Also, getting a 30 day notice from the roommate is immaterial. Since the roommate had no ground to terminate her portion of the lease, she could have given no notice at all.

What the landlord does will be up to him. If you vacate the rental, any one or all three can be sued for the balance. As Lisa pointed out, what he does will then dictate what you do in trying to recover. At the very least, you personally will have to pay at least your share of the remaining rental. Whether it be because you are sued by the landlord or another roommate we can't tell yet.

My suggestion is before you leave school, go to the school's housing office and see if they can help you find a roommate for the rest of the term.