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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    1

    Thumbs down If Your Roommate Gives You Notice, Can You Move Out Without Owing More Rent

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Oregon

    I live in Portland, OR. I moved in with a coworker (who happens to not be on this lease) and her partner (who has lived here for 5 years with various roommates) three months ago. Upon moving in I paid a deposit to the old roommate that was renting my room and was told that the next roommate would have to pay me the same amount, which I didn't question too much. I also paid a deposit directly to management after my application was approved. When I moved into the room I noticed there were fair amounts of damage -- holes/cracks/marks/scuffs on the wall and ceiling, loose or broken fixtures in the restroom, a wobbly door, a closet door that doesn't close and a bent out of shape window screen, plus the window doesn't stay open because the mechanism was broken. These were all things I noticed once I'd moved in. I have not done any damage to the room during my stay here.

    Yesterday, May 15th, my roommate called a house meeting and informed me that the two of them would be moving in with one of her friends, closing out the lease here, and that they were moving in there on June 12th, but that there would most likely be some overlap between the two places while they moved everything. This makes things complicated for me -- I have no money for a deposit or rent anywhere else, because I wasn't expecting to move. I told them okay and contacted a friend of mine who is going to let me stay with her for awhile. So I decided that I would be moved out by June 1st. This way, all my bills and rent will have been paid and I won't be facing prorated charges along with trying to find a new place and coming up with money for that. When I talked to my roommate about it today, she said that wouldn't work because I was legally obligated to give her a 30 day notice and that the notice to her technically started yesterday, since that's when she told me about it. She said that her and our other roommate "couldn't afford to do the last month on their own." I also asked about getting my deposit back since the room was damaged before I moved in, I have only been here for three months and she has been here for so long. She said that she hopes the management will give "a little bit of the deposit back" but "isn't sure." She was also talking about the deposit for the entire townhouse - not my room that I paid the deposit for, nor did she mention the I deposit paid to the last roommate.


    My questions are:
    1. Am I correct in thinking that I am not obligated to give her a 30 day notice when she is the one who surprised me by saying she was moving out in less than a month, closing out the lease, etc.? She is the one that decided to move, I wasn't looking at other places. How is it giving notice to someone if they're leaving and I had no idea about it until now? She said that her telling me about the move was my notice -- that doesn't make sense to me, plus she is saying my notice started May 15th, making June 15th my earliest move out date, when she's apparently moving June 12th... which is later than a 30 day notice to myself.
    2. Am I legally supposed to get my deposit back, since I have caused no damage to the room whatsoever and have only been here 3 months?


    I really would like to be out by June 1st, and I would like to go to management and tell them what's going on and ask about my portion of the deposit, I just want to know the laws on this first so I know what I'm doing when I talk to my roommates again. Sorry for the long post -- just wanted the details to be there.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: If Your Roommate Gives You Notice, Can You Move Out Without Owing More Rent

    Quote Quoting abakaba
    View Post
    Upon moving in I paid a deposit to the old roommate that was renting my room and was told that the next roommate would have to pay me the same amount, which I didn't question too much. I also paid a deposit directly to management after my application was approved.
    Your account makes you appear to be a subtenant, but when you start talking about filing applications with "management" and also paying them a deposit it becomes possible that you have a landlord-tenant relationship with "management" instead of simply being a subtenant. Please clarify.

    You and your landlord are bound by Oregon law to give proper notice. In your case, you have not indicated that you have a lease term. If you're a month-to-month tenant, during your first year of tenancy either you or the landlord can terminate on thirty days notice. You are obligated to pay rent through the end of the notice period, even if you move out early. If your landlord has given you less than thirty days notice, then compels you to leave at the end of the insufficient notice period, you gain a potential cause of action against your landlord.

    The security deposit issue is made complicated by the involvement of "management". You need to tell us more about that arrangement and describe the details of the document(s) you signed in relation to your tenancy and the deposit.

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