I currently rent a room in a 6-bedroom house with 7 other people. Earlier this week our landlord posted a 60-day notice on all of our doors that says we have to move out within 60 days because he is selling the house. Okay, fine. It sucks to have to move and find a place, but whatever. So some of us are going to try and get a place together again, so we begin our search. We're hoping to be out before the end of the month. But now our landlord is telling us he needs a 30-day notice if we move out or we won't get our deposit back. Which basically makes it so we have to pay another month of rent. I need some advice on the legality of this and if my landlord has the right to withhold our deposit if we don't give him 30-day notice, even though he posted a 60-day notice. Any help would be great, or if there are other details on the situation you need to come up with a better answer, let me know. I figure most of you probably have some experience with this. Thanks guys. :love_heart: Exact wording of 60-day notice: "YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that effective SIXTY (60) DAYS from the date of service on you of this notice, the periodic tenancy by which you hold possession of the premises is terminated, at which time you are required to vacate and surrender possession of the premises. If you fail to do so, legal proceedings will be instituted against you to recover possession of the premises, damages, and costs of suit." signed the landlord February 16th, 2013
My advice is go down to/call the city hall and ask. Most cities make landlords reigster and usually have rules about such things. They also tend to have stiff fines for people who don't register. If your landlord didn't register you could possibly use that against him.
You might need to get with a lawyer on this one. Your landlord may not have the legal standing to forcibly evict you without cause in a 60 day window and by doing so, he may be creating a fundamental breach of contract which can negate your liability to provide a 30 day notice and potentially entitle you do damages.
If you have a lease with your landlord, he cannot evict you unless he has probable cause. If you are paying your rent on time, he must adhere to the lease. I know this because something very similar happened to me years ago. I had a year's lease and after several months moving in, my landlord decided to sell the property and subsequently sent notices to everyone in the building. I asked him if he could cover my moving costs and with that gesture, I would leave. Well, he declined and I realized that I had rights. So, I stayed while everyone else left. Construction crews began working around my apartment unit and he came again, begging as he had signed a real estate contract, which wouldn't go through until all of the tenants had left as the new owners wanted to overhaul the entire building. I told him, sure I will leave, if you buy out my lease for the remaining months. I got no answer but his realtor came by and pleaded to deaf ears. Several days later, I am sleeping in as I had called off work due to a cold bug and someone comes into my apartment and is sneaking around, well it was the realtor. Now, the landlord would come around every month to collect rent and I would take the rent reciept and place it in my desk drawer. He was aware of this. Anyhow, I catch her and call the police. The police come and I threaten charges against her, which if filed would cause her to lose her realtor's licensce due to ethics violations. Anyhow, the landlord must not of been aware of her predicament as he called that same evening, telling me that I didn't pay rent for that month. Tricky dicky. So, I told him that I had my rent reciepts and that his realtor was caught and the police are involved. He shut up and ended the phone call. Sort of long here, but finally I got a 4,000 dollar check for the remaining months on the lease and moved. I tell this story because expect dirty tricks from landlords or realtors. If you have a lease, he can't sell the property out from underneath you.
Well, I looked up California law on the situation and it states that I still need to give a 30-day notice, even though I have received a 60-day notice. Which means, I'll most likely have try and figure out paying rent at two separate places next month. -_- I signed a 6-month lease at the beginning of August, and I have been month-to-month since it expired. @Lowerlevels That is a wild story!! Sooooo shady! What is wrong with people....
Surely his 60 day notice has to coincide with rent payments? i.e. he informs you on rent day you have one more rent day left. If so, why didn't you immediately give him 30 days notice? That way, you pay this month's rent and that's it. However, it does seem rather sharp practice. Do you have a lease? If so, what does it say about selling? I would have thought that, if you have an agreement to be there, say 2 years and you have 6 months left, if he sells the building the buyer would have had to be made aware that it was not vacant and there were leases in place. Hmm, seems not in California! Apparently, he didn't have to give you 60 days' notice, so he's actually being nice to you, believe it or not. This probably isn't of much help as it's talking about your landlord defaulting on his mortgage: If your lease is under Section 8 (whatever that is), he can't evict you. Also, if you're covered under "just cause" eviction protections, you may be OK - but finding out if you are is complex: I'm referencing http://www.alliemae.org/californiatenanteviction.html. They suggest calling Rent Control, a local tenants' organization, or a lawyer. It does seem, though, that you don't have a lot of rights as a renter in California! I'd speak to these people quickly if I were you - but think about speaking to the landlord right away about giving notice - say it's very sudden but you'll leave before the last 30 days if he cancels your lease and you owe nothing. You could even see if he would do a "cash for keys", if you're ready to move and have somewhere to go.
I am not entirely sure where all the confusion is... it all sounds just fine. You have to give 30 days notice to move out, the fact hes given you 60 means nothing - hes entitled to 30 days to find another tennant or what ever and has 30 days to do it. You cant just up and leave. At the same time, you can be told the tennacy isnt being continued and the landlord can tell you to move out - this is all the basics of renting (at least in the UK and it sounds extremely similar there). Then again, I have moved every year for like the last 3 years and then before that maybe even more often - in my 10 years since leaving home, I have moved around 16 times.
Absolutely - he only needed to give 30 days notice, so I would have given him 30 days notice of vacating immediately, if you don't intend to use the extra month he's given you.
