[iseegreen]

e90post has some knowledgeable people so I was wondering if I could get some help. This is in Los Angeles, CA.

Here is the situation:

I had signed a 1 year lease contract which included 4 other tenants in a joint lease in July 31, as of August 1, I moved out and another tenant moved in without signing a lease ( so it was still under my name but the new tenant was paying the landlord directly ). The other tenants had previously decided they wanted to continue living there but recently decided to move out.
Currently they are still living on a month-to-month payment.

A couple of days ago, we sent the landlord a 30 days notice that we were going to leave the lease.

However, the landlord is threatening to sue us and enforce the lease because one of the other tenants had emailed him back in April that they wanted to renew the lease.

The landlord is claiming that there was a verbal agreement between him and another tenant to renew the lease. As well as an email stating that a tenant had wanted to renew the lease.

So far, none of us have signed anything ( no letter of intent, or lease agreement )

Does he have a case against us? How should I approach this situation. I haven't been able to get my security deposit back. Is he legally binded to give me my deposit back after 21 days after the end of the 30 days' notice?

[dtwyim]

It depends on your exit clause. The problem is one of the tenants email him back. Now the landlord has a record of someone want to renew. But that is between that person and the landlord. Since nothing is signed, I do not think that person is on the hook for the renewal.

Worse case scenario, you and the other four are on the hook for the remainder of your lease if you do not have a good exit clause.

Depending on the amount, if the landlord takes you to court, it is usually not worth it for him unless he represents himself. Unless you are talking huge $ in commercial lease.