Landlord Law


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Fixing to End a Fixed Term Lease

Evicting one tenant while the other stays

I am a landlord with a one year lease. The lease agreement has two people on it who are no longer getting along. One roommate has offered to renew the lease, but only if it is under his name only and only if the second tenant moves out.

The other tenant does not return my calls, and has not indicated whether or not he will renew the lease. At this point, I would like to offer a new lease to the tenant willing to sign on for one year.

I have two questions:

1) What are my legal obligations in regards to serving notice at the end of a fixed term lease. Do I need to give the tenants 30 days?

2) If I offer a lease to one of the existing tenants only, what are my legal obligations to the second tenant?

As my second grade teacher used to say when we slurped our milk through our straws: When It's Gone, It's Gone. Same is true of many leases. When a fixed term lease ends, that's it. Month-to-month leases need a 30-day notice in your state of sunny California, but fixed leases end on their own. You can, of course, send the tenants a polite note reminding them of the approaching end of their time in your home, but state law does not require it.

When the lease ends, you and the tenants are back to ground zero: You can rent to whomever you wish. You may decline to offer a renewal to anyone as long as your decisions are reasonable business ones, not discriminatory or retaliatory. In other words, you cannot refuse to rent because an applicant is of a certain race, religion and so on; nor because a tenant took advantage of a legal right -- such as complaining to a health inspector about real code violations.

I surmise that you would rather rent to the on-the-ball tenant because he appears to be a better prospect, businesswise. If that's your reason, offer the lease to him alone. To be extra careful, be sure to keep records of your attempts to contact the other fellow. You can hardly be expected to rent to a rudenik who doesn't return your calls.

Of course, some of this advice doesn't make a lick of sense If you live in a rent controlled city. In rent controlled cities that require "just cause" for eviction, unless the second tenant has done something that would justify an eviction, you might have to offer the place to him, too. Check your ordinance for details.

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