Leaving My House Without Notice (CA) (lease agreement, tenant, deposits, credit report)

[CNYC]

Originally Posted by eliotJC

Easier said than done—they are almost always home.

Middle of the night. Get your stuff packed up as much as you can maybe drop a few loads out the window then walk out for a "store run" and take off.

How much stuff do you have ?

Maybe pretend to do a few loads of laundry at the laundry mat. Get stuff out little by little.

Whatever your case is get yourself as organized as you can so if the opportunity arises you can take off.


Listen if it gets that bad go to a police station and explain your situation HAVE YOUR STUFF READY TO GO and ask if two officers can be there when you take your stuff out. I think a simple " I am scared because they are drug users " might work.

Sounds like an awful position to be in.


Good Luck

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by eliotJC

Are there exceptions?

I know for a fact that he is breaking our verbal agreement by pressuring me for rent two weeks early b/c he is broke. I also wonder if by having used my deposit rather than held onto it, he may be in violation.

Also, there's the issue of threats. By my post, you can tell how unreasonable and tantrum-prone the man is. My response so far has been conflict avoidance—basically just sucking it up and doing what he says, since it is short-term. If I were to simply stand up for myself (in a perfectly civil manner), I'm pretty sure that he would threaten me.

Move, give notice and say to take the last 30 days rent out of the deposit. You know they will not give a deposit back, so use it for the last month's rent. Your done.

[reenzz]

Originally Posted by eliotJC

Are there exceptions?

I know for a fact that he is breaking our verbal agreement by pressuring me for rent two weeks early b/c he is broke. I also wonder if by having used my deposit rather than held onto it, he may be in violation.

Also, there's the issue of threats. By my post, you can tell how unreasonable and tantrum-prone the man is. My response so far has been conflict avoidance—basically just sucking it up and doing what he says, since it is short-term. If I were to simply stand up for myself (in a perfectly civil manner), I'm pretty sure that he would threaten me.

The only legal exception is if the house/apartment has been deemed uninhabitable. If you fail to give notice as per the law, the landlord can either take a months rent from your deposit or sue you in court. Understand that any court action will show up on your background check and credit report. It may make it harder to rent elsewhere. Also...if you lose the court case, you will be responsible for rent, court costs and the landlords attorney fees.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by reenzz

The only legal exception is if the house/apartment has been deemed uninhabitable. If you fail to give notice as per the law, the landlord can either take a months rent from your deposit or sue you in court. Understand that any court action will show up on your background check and credit report. It may make it harder to rent elsewhere. Also...if you lose the court case, you will be responsible for rent, court costs and the landlords attorney fees.

The OP is subletting a room from the person leasing the apartment. If the landlord doesn't get his rent he's going after the leaseholder, not the OP (if he even knows the OP is there, which, from his descriptions of his roommates, I very seriously doubt).

[reenzz]

And the leaseholder will go after the OP.

[Kim in FL]

Originally Posted by eliotJC

Thanks,

I'm not at all scared of running into them. It's just guys with nothing but time on their hands. So if they want to take me to small claims, they could make life annoying.

If I tried to move out without police, what would most likely happen is one of them trying to lock me out before I could get all of my things, and perhaps try to physically stop me if I pushed my way back in. I'm not afraid of getting hurt; I just don't wanna get arrested or lose my stuff.

without a lease how would you prove to the police that you actually live there? Are you receiving mail at this address? Does your DL reflect this address?


If you can't prove you live there, the police can't force them to let you in. Most of the time the police won't get involved in situations like this...they'll tell you it's civil and you need to go to court.


Good luck.

[breeinmo.]

Does the LL know you're there? Could you just tell the druggies the LL told you to get out? If they're hiding the fact you're their tenant, they wouldn't rock the boat and complain to him/her. Good luck.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Move, give notice and say to take the last 30 days rent out of the deposit. You know they will not give a deposit back, so use it for the last month's rent. Your done.

While I understand what you're saying OP cant do that. Security deposits are by design to be used for deposits. It would give them a foothold to litigation for additional rent. They CAN use the law to their advantage you know. Just because there is no written lease doesn't mean there aren't laws governing renting.
If he doesn't give correct notice those guys can take him to court for lost rent. And while they may be dirt bags if OP violated the rental law guidelines I guarantee they would get a judgement. Can OP take off? Sure. And while nothing may happen the roommates may have other recourse.


OP
My suggestion is to do it all by the book. Give written notice log all conversations, take pics and then leave. If they do not return the deposit take them to court. Now you have a judgement against him. Most likely they will not even show up.
I agree you need to leave, but if you leave the "wrong" way they can use the law against you. Granted I doubt between the two of them they can reach a IQ of 50 points but just be careful

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by BBslider001

They cannot sue you for anything if their is no written contract. That is the only thing that is legally binding. If you are not on the lease, there is NOTHING these idiots can do no matter how much they squawk or threaten.

Now get out of there before something happens with these morons. I have been in a similar situation awhile back and my "friend" roommate turned out to be a drug addict and created a horrible and unsafe living situation. He threatened me up and down and thought he had some authority to make my life miserable No go for him. The landlord tried to take me to small claims when I vacated and the judge asked "where is his name on the lease?" Since it was not on there, case closed. It was a 5 minute ordeal and I was done and free.

Long story short, trust your gut and get out! The hotel thing is a good one if you can afford it. I am sorry to hear someone else going through something like this. I felt like I was the only one at the time that ever experienced something so bad.

They could pursue a verbal agreement, they would need to show proof of monthly payments and a judge could reasonable see that the OP was renting from these guys. That said the OP gave them a deposit, give them 30 days notice and tell them they can take the rent from the deposit. Asking you to pay rent early probably isn't a breach of your agreement. You should get out asap though.

The only other option for you to break your lease early is domestic abuse situations which most likely would not apply here.

[luv my dayton]

These losers sublet and thats usually against any agreement of the lease they had. Get a PO box and imediately have mail delivered there. You need to remove yourself before these two do something to get you all arrested. Quickly take pics of the place on cell phone. Organize what is yours and what your taking. Police can come to supervise your move ,alls you need to do is inform them of why your leaving and set a time you will be vacating, at the same time deliver a vacating premise letter to nimrobs. Only thing they could do is take you to small claims court but dont think they would due to being found out the drug usage. Also scamming the system out of funds. Too much trouble for them to be in if caught while making trouble for you. Better safe than sorry so dont sweat your decision. Unless you left out something about yourself that may be derogatory to this scenario you have the law on your side. They broke the lease the day they took your deposit.Just get it done!