I have a unique situation in which I want my brother to leave from the apartment in which we are sharing rent. I was wondering how quick I can get him out of here without violating his rights.
We live in California in San Bernardino County. I am the only person signed on the lease. He is not listed with the office as living here. I typed a sort of agreement outlining conditions in which we would continue with this arrangement, but he only half-heartedly agreed verbally and we never signed it.
I offered him to stay here as long as he paid-half rent, which he has done since September (2 month so far paid). I want him to leave now because of personality conflict (we are almost at the fist fighting stage).
Since he’s paid rent (paid up til 11/5), I have assumed that he has renter rights and gave him 30 day notice in writing. Am I legally being too generous? Is there actually a legal amount of time I have to give him based on his current status?
What if he stays beyond the legal time limit, whether it is 3 days or 30 days? Can I change locks on him and move his stuff outside?
I don’t want to screw him but I don’t want to be screwed either. Thanks for the help.
It seems to me your name is on the rental contract, his isn’t. You have no written agreement between you and your brother. IMO, You can do whatever you damn well feel like.
I don’t see how he has any renter’s rights at all. He hasn’t paid any rent, since he’s not a renter. He may have sent a check to a landlord, and the landlord has agreed to accept it so far as money towards your own balance, but that ain’t rent.
But again, IANAL, and California law may be different.
I am not a California lawyer. Therefore, I will not even attempt to interpret the relevant statutes, but instead make some general observations:
The next step after giving someone a notice is not putting their stuff out. It is filing an eviction case against them. The whole idea behind the unlawful entry and detainer statutes, is to prevent landlords from putting their tenants out without any sort of due process.
If you don’t have a written lease, generally 30 days’ notice is required before you can begin eviction proceedings.
I don’t know if your brother would qualify as a subtenant under California law, but if he does, then 1 & 2 probably apply to you.
You can probably find a book at the library that will answer your questions. Here are a couple of good candidates.
IANAL - Unless you have an agreement with the landlord that it is OK for you to take in boarders, you may be the one who finds himself being evicted. I think you need to be thinking about ways to end this living situation in a way so that it doesn’t become a legal matter. If it does, I suspect you both will lose.
Well yeah, there is that. It depends on your lease. Some leases say the tenants will be x, y, and z, and nobody else. Others don’t. The landlord might want a little more rent if you have more people there. And landlords like to have more people responsible for rent, so they usually want to check out the other tenant and get them to sign the lease. But look at your lease . . .
And don’t change the locks, as a landlord (I’m in Ohio) I hate it when the tenants change locks. I don’t have a key if I need one and it may be illegal or in violation of the lease, to do this yourself. If you call the landlord and he says “OK just send me a key” that’s different.
Any chance of sitting him down and saying something along the following lines?
“Bro, I think we can both see this ain’t workin’. How 'bout we reach an agreement whereby you find another place to live, so we avoid a legal and/or physical fight that neither of us wants?”
Generally speaking, you must give thirty days notice to vacate, so if you tell him on 11/1 he must leave by 11/15 or by 12/1 and he must pay the prorated difference from 11/16 to 12/1. In some jurisdictions, he must leave by 12/15, 30 days past the end of the last paid rental period and paid if he stays for the consequent month. In some of the toughest jurisdictions, it’s thirty days from the day set by a judge[Yes, you must petition a judge to say you can do it.] So, in the end it may take 60 to 90 days depending on the law.
However, your city, county, state probably have on hand somewhere a fair housing type brochure, telling landlords and renters what your rights are and how to properly enforce them. Your brother is a legal renter, albeit without a signed contract, so it is assumed to be a thirty day/ month-to-month contract. The complication is, he is a relative; not being a lawyer, I don’t know if this affects the outcome.
:eek: :eek:
caveat emptor: I get my info from People’s Court, etc.
and having lived in a house with a roommate{squator}.
