Hi Everyone,

I have been living in my current apartment since April. Just within the last few days, I have delivered the deposit to a new apartment and am moving in on the 14th of January. My roommate claims that I will also owe February's rent due to some 30 day notice law that I was unaware of (and I am skeptical about it). I assume that letting my landlord and roommate know on the 1st that I was leaving IS the 30 day notice.

Here's the rub. I have no contract or lease agreement with either my roommate or my landlord, written or oral. In addition, my landlord has been out of the country since October and I don't know when he will return. His daughter has been collecting the rent.

My question is, what do I owe my landlord? Since I have no contract I assume I can leave whenever I want, but since my roommate DOES have a contract, what are his and my legal obligations?

This on top of the fact that the heat has been broken since October with no help, but that's a side issue. Thanks for the help.

What you have is a verbal agreement with your landlord. His daughter is acting on his behalf and you both know that you are a tenant at will. You have a duty to give a 30 day notice. If you don’t the landlord can sue you for Februarys rent. If you don’t appear in court you will lose the case. I don’t live in CA so I don’t know if the daughter can represent the landlord, but an attorney certainly can.

Thanks for the reply. If this is the case of a verbal agreement, then I gave my 30 day notice to my roommate and landlord yesterday, the 1st of January. I told my roommate and left a dated letter under my landlord's door for his daughter to pick up, and I spoke to the daughter on the phone today. My landlord did not give an address or phone number for where he was going, so I have no way of contacting him directly.

If I understand correctly, I must pay for this full month, and after that I have no further obligations. Does this sound correct?

Yes, as long as you gave written notice on the 1st of January and your rental period begins on the first, then you are OK. You would not owe for Feb rent.