- Jurisdiction
- California
Hi all. I have some questions regarding a trespassing sub-landlord. Please note that I am a non-citizen international student, so I'm not sure how much of these rights I have.
I am currently sub-renting the master bedroom of a house. The other bedrooms in the said house are being rented by 3 other sub-tenants. The contract dictates that I am renting the room from May 12 to August 12, and that the rent is "$1000 per month for the three months... paid monthly on the 20th of each month." It also dictates that I pay the money via check or Venmo (a money transfer app that's connected to bank accounts). I paid the money via Venmo on May 17 with the comment "first month rent". The house's ownership is shared by 4 sub-landlords, but my contract is only signed by one of them (hereafter referred to as B). B's also the person I pay my rent to.
I was out of town from May 12 to May 26, and during that period, my friend, who's sub-renting the room right next to mine, told me that B had been entering and sleeping in the room I rented as well as moving new furniture in. B did not inform me about her stay in my room, and absolutely did not have my consent.
Right afterward, I sent B an email regarding her trespassing behaviors, demanding an apology and a compensation/fine for contract violation. In response, B made excuses that she thought I would only move in June, and that she was moving in decorations and cleaning the room. B also seems to think that I don't technically have the room until the start of June, and that I had only paid June's rent. This might be due to the sloppiness of our contract:
Before signing the subleasing contract, I was aware that another one of the 4 sublandlords (hereafter referred to as S), would be living in the room until May 12, the day my contract started, and had already paid May's rent to the master landlord. I think that it is because of this technicality that B thinks I don't own the room until June 1, even if the contract signed between me and B dictates that my tenancy starts on May 12.
I have only seen the master contract (contract between the 4 sublandlords and the actual landlord) that will be effective after June 1, and it dictates that the 4 sublandlords live as a family unit and pay the house's rent as a single unit. I do not have access to the master contract that's effective before June 1.
My questions are these:
1. Do I have the ownership of the room I rented from May 12 to June 1, and is the contract between me and B enforcible? I think two technicalities might screw my claim up. First, if the pre-June 1 master contract dictates that the 4 sub-landlords are a family unit, is my contract enforcible if it's only signed by me and B, and none of the other 3 sub-landlords? Second, if the pre-June 1 master contract assigns each room to each sub-landlord, is my contract enforcible if it turns out that B does not have the ownership of the room until June 1?
2. Can B make the claim that I did not pay rent from May 12 to June 1, and that the rent I paid on May 17 titled "first month rent" is for the month of June, instead of the month of May 12 to June 12, as I intended?
3. Can I legally withhold a portion of my next-month rent from B as a punishment for her trespassing?
4. Is my friend/neighbor a credible witness of the trespassing, or can B make the argument that, because it's my friend, the testimony is biased and unusable in court? Other than that, I have a voicemail by B admitting that she came into my room and slept there. Is the voicemail credible evidence, too?
5. Does my non-citizen status affect my rights in this situation? I am a foreigner on a F-1 student visa.
Thank you very much for reading all of that!
I am currently sub-renting the master bedroom of a house. The other bedrooms in the said house are being rented by 3 other sub-tenants. The contract dictates that I am renting the room from May 12 to August 12, and that the rent is "$1000 per month for the three months... paid monthly on the 20th of each month." It also dictates that I pay the money via check or Venmo (a money transfer app that's connected to bank accounts). I paid the money via Venmo on May 17 with the comment "first month rent". The house's ownership is shared by 4 sub-landlords, but my contract is only signed by one of them (hereafter referred to as B). B's also the person I pay my rent to.
I was out of town from May 12 to May 26, and during that period, my friend, who's sub-renting the room right next to mine, told me that B had been entering and sleeping in the room I rented as well as moving new furniture in. B did not inform me about her stay in my room, and absolutely did not have my consent.
Right afterward, I sent B an email regarding her trespassing behaviors, demanding an apology and a compensation/fine for contract violation. In response, B made excuses that she thought I would only move in June, and that she was moving in decorations and cleaning the room. B also seems to think that I don't technically have the room until the start of June, and that I had only paid June's rent. This might be due to the sloppiness of our contract:
Before signing the subleasing contract, I was aware that another one of the 4 sublandlords (hereafter referred to as S), would be living in the room until May 12, the day my contract started, and had already paid May's rent to the master landlord. I think that it is because of this technicality that B thinks I don't own the room until June 1, even if the contract signed between me and B dictates that my tenancy starts on May 12.
I have only seen the master contract (contract between the 4 sublandlords and the actual landlord) that will be effective after June 1, and it dictates that the 4 sublandlords live as a family unit and pay the house's rent as a single unit. I do not have access to the master contract that's effective before June 1.
My questions are these:
1. Do I have the ownership of the room I rented from May 12 to June 1, and is the contract between me and B enforcible? I think two technicalities might screw my claim up. First, if the pre-June 1 master contract dictates that the 4 sub-landlords are a family unit, is my contract enforcible if it's only signed by me and B, and none of the other 3 sub-landlords? Second, if the pre-June 1 master contract assigns each room to each sub-landlord, is my contract enforcible if it turns out that B does not have the ownership of the room until June 1?
2. Can B make the claim that I did not pay rent from May 12 to June 1, and that the rent I paid on May 17 titled "first month rent" is for the month of June, instead of the month of May 12 to June 12, as I intended?
3. Can I legally withhold a portion of my next-month rent from B as a punishment for her trespassing?
4. Is my friend/neighbor a credible witness of the trespassing, or can B make the argument that, because it's my friend, the testimony is biased and unusable in court? Other than that, I have a voicemail by B admitting that she came into my room and slept there. Is the voicemail credible evidence, too?
5. Does my non-citizen status affect my rights in this situation? I am a foreigner on a F-1 student visa.
Thank you very much for reading all of that!
