Hi,
I live in Los Angeles. In December of 2011, I moved into a two bedroom apartment which the sole occupant had advertised. I have been paying my rent on time; he has provided receipts. I have not yet signed a month-to-month rental contract with apartment management. Now, my roommate is threatening to evict me.
He is claiming that I still owe him money for security deposit. As an incentive for me to rent his spare bedroom, he had waived the security deposit—in full—before I paid him the first month's rent. (He knew that I had already put down a non-refundable deposit on another apartment.) However, once I paid him the first month's rent, he insisted that he would instead only give me a $100 discount off of the original deposit amount.
Also, he reneged on an agreement to take $180 off of February rent; this was out of consideration for the inconvenience due to two of his guests who stayed for a week in the living room. He had originally told me that they might be staying for several weeks or at most two months, until they found a place of their own. We agreed to a flat $180 deduction per month. However, after they left, he unilaterally changed the terms and gave me a credit for $60 only.
Before I moved in, my roommate told me that I would need to fill out a rental application with the apartment management. (I was required to submit it within the first week after moving.) Also, he explained that management would run a credit check before any approval of me as a tenant. These were the terms of his rental agreement.
Within that first week, I did fill out a rental application and paid a fee to management for the credit check. In the middle of December, the building manager informed me that I had been approved as a tenant. I was told that sometime during the following week, management would contact my roommate and me— to arrange the signing of a new rental contract. By the middle of January, I still had received no such follow-up contact. So finally, I asked the manager the reason for the delay. I was told that they had been quite busy and had not yet prepared a new rental contract. Once again, the manager added that my roommate and I would be contacted soon to sign a contract. I have heard nothing since.
Although I have looked at the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance's specific grounds for evictions, I am not sure where I stand.
1. Can my roommate lawfully claim that because I have yet to sign a rental agreement with apartment management—I am not a co-tenant, but a sub-tenant; therefore, he can begin an eviction process: by serving me with a thirty-day notice to quit?
2. If the apartment management does become involved, can management claim that I can be evicted with a thirty-day notice because my name is not on the rental agreement?
3. If so, can apartment management obtain judicial relief based upon such an assertion notwithstanding the fact that—after running a credit check—they approved me as tenant but have delayed my signing of a rental contract?
Thank you,
Frankh
I live in Los Angeles. In December of 2011, I moved into a two bedroom apartment which the sole occupant had advertised. I have been paying my rent on time; he has provided receipts. I have not yet signed a month-to-month rental contract with apartment management. Now, my roommate is threatening to evict me.
He is claiming that I still owe him money for security deposit. As an incentive for me to rent his spare bedroom, he had waived the security deposit—in full—before I paid him the first month's rent. (He knew that I had already put down a non-refundable deposit on another apartment.) However, once I paid him the first month's rent, he insisted that he would instead only give me a $100 discount off of the original deposit amount.
Also, he reneged on an agreement to take $180 off of February rent; this was out of consideration for the inconvenience due to two of his guests who stayed for a week in the living room. He had originally told me that they might be staying for several weeks or at most two months, until they found a place of their own. We agreed to a flat $180 deduction per month. However, after they left, he unilaterally changed the terms and gave me a credit for $60 only.
Before I moved in, my roommate told me that I would need to fill out a rental application with the apartment management. (I was required to submit it within the first week after moving.) Also, he explained that management would run a credit check before any approval of me as a tenant. These were the terms of his rental agreement.
Within that first week, I did fill out a rental application and paid a fee to management for the credit check. In the middle of December, the building manager informed me that I had been approved as a tenant. I was told that sometime during the following week, management would contact my roommate and me— to arrange the signing of a new rental contract. By the middle of January, I still had received no such follow-up contact. So finally, I asked the manager the reason for the delay. I was told that they had been quite busy and had not yet prepared a new rental contract. Once again, the manager added that my roommate and I would be contacted soon to sign a contract. I have heard nothing since.
Although I have looked at the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance's specific grounds for evictions, I am not sure where I stand.
1. Can my roommate lawfully claim that because I have yet to sign a rental agreement with apartment management—I am not a co-tenant, but a sub-tenant; therefore, he can begin an eviction process: by serving me with a thirty-day notice to quit?
2. If the apartment management does become involved, can management claim that I can be evicted with a thirty-day notice because my name is not on the rental agreement?
3. If so, can apartment management obtain judicial relief based upon such an assertion notwithstanding the fact that—after running a credit check—they approved me as tenant but have delayed my signing of a rental contract?
Thank you,
Frankh
