Sued for Rent After Moving Out

My question involves small claims court in the state of: California

Two years ago I rented a room completely on a verbal type of lease. The only set term was 2000/mo(utilities included). I paid one months rent and during the following month I was terminated by my employer. I searched for work and had nothing lined up in the city, I received one job offer 60 miles(3 hour commute in traffic from the city) away that required me to move. I had to leave to take the only offer at the time being I could not afford to wait on any other offers sitting on a 2000/mo room. I notified the master tenant whom I was renting from.

This was a verbal lease from a master tenant whom knew at most this would be a short term lease since it took over half of my income before terminated.

The plaintiff is seeking 2 months unpaid rent. I owe at most one month's rent. The only reason I see he is trying for two months is because one month would be under the minimum required to file small claims. I am two states away, to fly or drive to take care of this does not seem right. The plaintiff hangs up when I ask about the reason for excessive charge. I cannot agree to do a payment plan with the plaintiff when he is overcharging.

What is the best way to handle this? There is no adviser phone number, only drop ins. I have some proof as in my offer letter, start date, and the company housing provided by the job I took proving I was not in the city after my move out day.

Also, this small claims was filed 2 years and 20 days after moving.

I have filed a continuance but the trip across two states seems excessive for something like this. Hiring an attorney to represent me would cost too much plus as far as I know they cannot represent in small claims.

There is no minimum to file in small claims court in CA. I'm not sure who gave you that idea, but I have literally filed cases for $1. You paid one month's rent, but when did you move? You getting a new job somewhere else is not a defense.

What was your agreement? It sounds like your counter argument if he insists the agreement was 60 days notice is the truth which appears to be you were a lodger, not a tenant and gave him the 30 day required notice.

I was in the room rental for two months total; first month paid, second month is owed. Plaintiff claims I was there 3 months; recognizes 1 month paid and says I collected my stuff on the last day of the third month. This is not true, I was not in the city after my move out date and completely moved out, left the room in better condition than I found.

I'm not sure why my getting a job somewhere else would be my defense. Me getting a job somewhere else is why I moved. I was under no set term lease. The fact is I moved out. The documents from the job I took support the date in which the plaintiff is trying to charge additional rent.

Regarding the minimum small claims, I must have misread that somewhere. From what the plaintiff has said before he spends time in small claims

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The agreement was verbal; 2000/mo utilities included. Nothing else. No set 30 day notice, 3 day notice, 1 day notice, nothing regarding move out.

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I see my thread has been moved.

The reason I had it in small claims is because of my questions relating to small claims. Of course this also relates to being sued for rent after moving out. Why was the topic of my thread changed?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I'd really appreciate constructive feedback. At this point I am trying to see what my best option is for making an appeal and paying a lawyer to represent me in superior court. Hopefully most of my questions will be answered by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks again.

To end a periodic rental agreement (for example, a month-to-month agreement), Section 1946 of the Civil Code requires that you give your landlord proper written notice before you move.

You must give the landlord the same amount of notice as there are days between rent payments. This means that if you pay rent monthly, you must give the landlord written notice at least 30 days before you move.

You can give the landlord notice any time during the rental period. However, when doing so, Section1946 also requires that you pay full rent during the period covered by the 30 day notice. For example, say you have a month-to-month rental agreement, and pay rent on the first day of each month. You could give notice any time during the month (for example, on the tenth). Then, you could leave 30 days later (on the tenth of the following month, or earlier if you chose to). But you would have to pay rent for the first 10 days of the next month whether you stay for those 10 days or move earlier. (Exception: You would not have to pay rent for the entire 10 days if you left earlier, and the landlord rented the unit to another tenant during the 10 days, and the new tenant paid rent for all or part of the 10 days.)

So, in determining how much rent you owe under the law the question begs, did you give proper written 30 days notice and was it accompanied by sufficient payment of rent for those 30 days?

Although the statute requires written notice, that's not an issue if there's no dispute as to when and how notice was given. Also, failure to pay rent when giving notice does not invalidate the notice.

Here, though, there appears to be a dispute both as to when notice was given and as to the last date of occupancy. The OP says he gave notice at some unknown point in time during his second month of occupancy, suggesting that at a minimum rent is owed through at least part of the third month.

Thank you. Notice was given verbally on the 3rd of the month. I had been completely moved out by the 7th. The 7th was also the day the rental term started for what it's worth. The plaintiff claims I had my belongings there until the 31st and must charge rent for the full month. Who in their right mind would hang on to a 2000/mo room to store anything until the end of the month? The room was furnished. My biggest item was a 12 lbs TV which was taken along with all other belongings on the 7th. The small claims was filed 2 years and 24 days after the verbal contract had expired. The sol states verbal contracts to break after 2 years.

I was hoping there is a way that I can provide documentation without having to fly 2000 miles to take care of this. I would like to ask for the case to be dismissed given it has exceeded sol and the plaintiff is asking too much.

How should I present asking for dismissal? I can retrieve documentation from the company I worked for regarding start dates and housing.

Another thing that I am guessing would have to be presented separately is how much was being charged for the room and how it was advertised in such a city that does not allow overcharging of rent as posted here: http://www.sfrb.org/index.aspx?page=1043

I was never provided with how much the master tenant(plaintiff) was paying. He had two other renters when I was there.