My question involves a roommate in the State of: California
Hi I live with a roommate in an apartment complex where she and her dad are on the lease but I am not. They signed a 6 month lease and I am only listed as a roommate. The only paperwork I ever signed was back when I first moved in a year ago which was a 'roommate agreement clause' that was basically a credit check and to acknowledge that I lived in the complex (interestingly enough, my roommate & her parents did not want me to sign anything...I think because they didn't want me to have any rights if our living situation did not work out or something).
Things worked out fine for awhile but I decided to move out for personal and financial reasons. I gave my roommate my 30 day verbal notice on November 18th and initially told her I would only give a prorate portion of the rent for the month of December up until December 18th. However, when I talked to her mom on the phone she demanded I pay the full months rent in December. She said the way the rent works is its from the first to the first, and that if they found someone else by December 18th they would just reimburse me the money later.
After doing some research and talking to other people I have realized my legal rights and now I only want to give the pro-rate portion of the rent. I just want to confirm that I am within my rights to only give a pro-rate portion of the rent especially because my name is not on a lease.
When I give my prorated rent for the December I think I am just going to type up a mini letter stating the reason why I am giving only the pro-rated amount.
Thanks.
PS - Oh and they never asked me for a security deposit when I first moved in so I think that may be a big issue when having to pay the rent for the month of December. But isn't that their problem not mine?

