Options for Separating Couple Bound by Lease
QUESTION: One of your recent Apartment Life columns contained a question entitled “Splitting Couple Must Honor Lease.” The Los Angeles writer and her husband had signed a one-year lease. Now they are splitting up and she wants to move out. Her husband says he will take her to court if she does not continue paying her portion of the rent for the lease term.
In my opinion, a practical solution might be to approach her landlord with her problem to see if he might release her from the lease or change it to a month-to-month rental agreement. Such a solution is not inconceivable in many markets.
Another solution might be to sublease the apartment if her husband is willing to move out also or sublease to a new roommate.
Finally, unless her husband pays the full rent during the lease term, and they are jointly and severally liable for the rent, the landlord is the one who would take her to court for the rent, not the husband. Isn’t that right?
ANSWER: Your suggestions to alter the terms of the lease of sublease the apartment are good options, assuming the husband and/or landlord are willing to cooperate.
Assuming they won’t cooperate, let’s consider the court options. If the rent is unpaid or only partially paid, the landlord could take either or both tenants to court. If all of the rent is paid by the husband, and none by the wife, or vice-versa, the landlord would take no one to court. The party paying the rent (the husband in this situation), could, without a lot of fuss or fanfare, take his spouse to Small Claims Court for her share of unpaid rent up to $2,000.
Rules for Renting Rooms in Your Home
Q: I am the owner of a single-family residence in Los Angeles. I have two roommates who have full use of all the facilities, and I have a few questions.
What are their rights as tenants? Can I raise the rents? If yes, with how much notice? Can I request that they pay a portion of the utilities? And, finally, I do not claim this as income or claim the expenses on my income tax returns. Is that OK?
A: While your “roommates” have some rights, they don’t have as many as renters who are covered by Los Angeles’ rent control law (single-family homes are exempted from the law).
Their basic rights include the following: the right to live in a habitable dwelling (which is usually not a problem when the owner lives on the premises); the right to quiet enjoyment of the premises (unless, say, they know when they move in that you are a rock musician who practices at home), and the right to reasonable notices of your intent to raise the rent or change any other tenancy terms or ask them to move out. The length of the notice is usually the same as the rental period, not exceeding one month.
As for the utilities, you may require them to share in their payment, but give them legal notice of your intention.
Lastly, you ask if it’s OK not to report the income (no) or expenses (yes, though illogical) on your taxes. If your tax man is reading this, he’s probably reaching for the Alka Seltzer about now. If you don’t have a tax man, you’ll need one.
The good news is that you also get to itemize some expenses on your taxes that are unavailable to you as a homeowner, depreciation of some portion of the home being the biggest such expense. check with your tax man for the details.
Advantages of Tenant Ownership Plan
Q: I live in a rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica. It was recently sold and the new owners are trying to persuade the tenants to agree to participate in a Tenants’ Ownership Rights Charter Amendment (TORCA). Under TORCA, a tenant gets a two-year option to buy his rental unit. What are the dangers and advantages of this plan?
A: Jim Kemper, an information coordinator for the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, didn’t cite any dangers in the plan. He said, “Normally, we just provide information on the rent-control law. It (TORCA) was an amendment to the city charter that was enacted in a similar way as the rent law was by a majority of the people. But it’s actually administered by the city’s Planning and Zoning departments.
“The units will always be rent-controlled. It was simply envisioned as a plan that allows tenants to purchase their units, but the tenants will always be protected. They still have a lifetime lease.”
One of the plan’s creators, James W. Baker, a longtime Santa Monica political activist and past president of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, said there are many advantages to the plan.
Baker said, “TORCA was negotiated by owner and renter leaders and approved by over two-thirds of the city’s voters in June of 1984. It represents the closest thing I know of to a win-win scenario in politics.”
“The chief renter benefits include the following: Each renter who wants one is given a two-year option to buy his unit at a preferential price, but is under no obligation to do so. The options may be sold at a profit during the two years.
Renters not wishing options, may get long-term leases, lifetime leases for seniors and five-year leases for others, which provide that even without rent control, the amount they pay may not increase annually at much more than the inflation rate. There are many other renter benefits. Check with the city planning department and the owner for them.
“The only disadvantage to renters is that should they decide to rent the unit out later, it will rent for the rent control rate,” Baker said.
