california residential-lease rent
Do I have to return the deposit to my roommate when she didn&#39;t pay rent and refuses to pay utilities?
<p>My roommate and I are both on lease, we both split the deposit. Utilities are under my name since she has bad credit. No roommate agreement but plenty of proof of her paying bills etc. She gave 30 day notice to my property manager but not to me even though she was instructed, by my property manager, to do so since her deposit portion would be my responsibility since I will still be living here and whatever we paid when we first moved in there would remain to the landlord. When the thirty days were here, I received a notice stating she will come for deposit and turn in keys. When I advised I'd deduct utilities unpaid and unpaid rent. She stated she didn't owe any rent or bills due to leaving 10 days before 30 days and not being here for any usage of utilities or space. She did write up a letter releasing my landlord and property manager from contract and responsibility of them returning said deposit. Since they asked us to work something out when she was asking about leaving the contract. She also refused to return the keys.</p>

<p>If the deposit was a deposit paid by the roommate to the landlord, it isn't intended to cover debts owed by one co-tenant to another, unless there is a provision in the lease that says it is. Who is entitled to the return of the deposit depends on who paid it, and what provisions there are on the subject in the lease.</p>
<p>The usual assumption, in the absence of a specific agreement, is that rent and utilities are shared equally by co-tenets (although specific agreements to some other arrangement are very common). Likewise, the usual default is that rent and utility payments are pro-rated when a tenant leaves between due dates. One tenet might have a claim against another who does not pay in such a case, which could possibly be brought in small claims court. Whether there is any right to deduct from the security deposit would depend on there being a specific agreement saying so.</p>
<p>If the roommate was not a co-tenant but was on a sub-lease, then the terms of that sub-lease would control. If it was oral, it might be hard to prove. If it was implicit with no specific agreement even by word of mouth, that might be even harder.</p>
