Rules for 30 days notice

[marionm88]

I am renting a house in California with 3 other people. We signed a month to month lease, and are responsable for the rent "joint and severally". One of my housemates has decided to move out, and gave us 30 days notice on November 20th. She claims that she only has to pay her portion of December rent up to the 20th. I was under the impression that since we have a month to month lease, any 30 days notice would have to be given at the beginning of a month, and rent in full paid for the last month of residence. Is this true? Thanks for your time.

Marion

 

[HomeGuru]

I don't know. What does your lease say?

 

[marionm88]

In the lease it says that we have to give notice as a whole (if we all leave) at the beginning of the month, and pay rent in the full amount for the month. My question is, since it is just her that is leaving, do the same rules apply? Can one member of a joint and several group, leave in the middle of a month that the whole group is responsible, and claim to not owe rent for the whole month?

[Edited by marionm88 on 12-01-2000 at 03:46 PM]

 

[Jack Mevorach, Esq.]

A month-to-month tenancy is a periodic tenancy. The required notice is the length of the period. Actually, a court could insist that a 31 day notice be used. I've experienced this in the courtroom.

You describe one co-tenant notifying the others. This is a completely different question.

 

[marionm88]

By this do you mean that she is ONLY responsible for a partial sum of her share of a month's rent? If your answer is "it depends on what your lease says", please explain what phrases we should look for in the lease and what their implications are.

 

[Jack Mevorach, Esq.]

No. If there were only "joint" liability, that would be the case. "Joint and several" means you're each responsible for your share and the whole thing.

 

[HomeGuru]

Here is the monkey wrench. The bottom line is that she must give notice to L and not to you since the lease was signed between her and L. L can accept the notice if you all do, or say tough luck, you either all must move or she is still on the hook until the m/m tenany is terminated with ALL the joint tenants. If she vacates, then the rest of the tenants must pay her share of the rent.