Can a Roommate Move Out Without Acknowledging the Receipt of Notice

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California, not rent-controlled

Hi everyone,

A month ago, I was mad at my roommate and I texted her to please move out. She didn't confirm or contest. However, just today, she suddenly packed up and left. (She also didn't pay rent that was due on the 5th and ignored my questions as to the status of the rent.)

I'm put off because if she had just said something to the affirmative, I could have been looking for a new roommate this past month. Instead, she was silent and then left.

What are my rights at this point? I am certainly going to do everything I can to find a new roommate, but she has put me in an odd position. Can I treat her as someone who broke her lease since she never told me she was leaving?

Thanks for any help.

Quick edit: She didn't leave the keys.

Was this roommate a subtenant to you or was she on a common lease with you (co-tenant)

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Quoting caligrl238923

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I'm put off because if she had just said something to the affirmative, I could have been looking for a new roommate this past month. Instead, she was silent and then left.

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Why didn’t you discuss it with her then? You made the demand she move out, and unless she indicated otherwise you probably should have proceeded with the assumption she was going to move out. In any event, she did as you requested so I don’t see that you have much room for complaint here.

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Quoting caligrl238923

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What are my rights at this point? I am certainly going to do everything I can to find a new roommate, but she has put me in an odd position. Can I treat her as someone who broke her lease since she never told me she was leaving?

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I don’t think so. The details of the living arrangement and the notice you provided matter a bit in exactly how this plays out, but in the end I think the result would be much the same. If she was your tenant then the question is whether the notice you provided met the requirements under California law. If it didn’t, then your demand was ineffective and you could not have forced her out. If it did, then you could have forced her if she failed to heed the demand.

But either way you did make the demand indicating your intent to terminate the lease, either justly or not. She left at your demand and, as I indicated earlier, you really aren’t then in a position to complain that she as you asked. This is unlike a situation where you intended the lease to continue and she abruptly left, improperly terminating the lease early.

Consider yourself lucky: you got rid of an unwanted roommate without the hassle or expense of an eviction lawsuit or even having to pester her about going. In the end that’s a better outcome for you even though you waited a month to start looking for a new roommate to replace her. If she wasn’t even really a tenant then she had contractual obligation to you to begin with and meeting your demand for ejectment was all you could expect. In any event, I think your best course of action now is to just forget her and simply move on to finding a new roommate.

The cure for not leaving keys: change the locks. You should do that even if she returned the keys to guard against the possibility she has another set of keys you do not know about.

A subtenant that signed a one year lease.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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Why didn’t you discuss it with her then?

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I tried to, but she was very antagonistic, which was the main reason our roommate relationship deteriorated. Then, I left notes in the kitchen where I knew she would see them and she just ignored them.

The "notice" I provided did not meet the requirements under California law.

However, I agree that this was likely the best outcome, even if I didn't get 30 days to find someone new. I'm very glad she's gone.

well she could have told you to pound sand as long as she wasn’t in violation of the lease. Whether your notice met the terms under law to be valid are irrelevant since you cannot terminate a lease with such a notice.

So what you have is you issued an invalid demand. She can defend her action as you had agreed to terminate the lease by issuing the notice and she accepted your offer. She would owe rent up to the date she moved or the end of the notice period, whichever is later.

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Quoting caligrl238923

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The "notice" I provided did not meet the requirements under California law.

However, I agree that this was likely the best outcome, even if I didn't get 30 days to find someone new.

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She had no obligation to respond to your notice (other than to move out by the deadline) even if it had been in the proper form.

Despite 1) failing to acknowledge the receipt of notice, my roommate also 2) failed to respond to many attempts, in writing, to acknowledge the question.

Please note: My use of notice in this sentence is not a true definition of landlord/tenant notice.

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Quoting caligrl238923

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Ah, just noticed the title of the post was changed. It definitely makes my question clearer; however, I feel the need to mention (for anyone reading this via a search) that despite 1) failing to acknowledge the receipt of notice, she also 2) failed to respond to many attempts, in writing, to acknowledge the question.

Please note: My use of notice in this sentence is not a true definition of landlord/tenant notice.

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As I said before since you had a lease that had not expired your notice was meaningless. What the tenant can argue was you sent her an offer to terminate the lease at the prescribed date and she accepted it by ratification by action. If you wanted a definite response you should have worded your “notice” such that it was not valid unless you recieved a response.