Refund 1/2 month rent or not?
We rented out a room in our house for 2 1/2 months. The first month and a half went by without problems - we went out of our way to be as quiet as possible while our tenant prepared for an important audition. We invited her to join us for meals and free movies. On June 1st Tenant insisted on discussing an issue when I was on a deadline. I tried to explain that the time was not convenient. I was preparing for a meeting and exam and had just received news that one of my uncles had passed away. She persisted -- so I relented and we talked. Later in the day she asked if things were resolved. I answered honestly: Previous "things" were resolved but I didn't appreciate being forced into a discussion at a time that was VERY inconvenient for me. I felt that she was not being considerate of my deadlines (after we afforded her every consideration while she was working on her own projects and deadline). Tenant proceeded to start screaming at me outside of my house, and when I retreated indoors, she continued yelling for over 10 minutes. When I couldn't take her dramatic outburst anymore I told her I would not listen or deal with anything until my June 12 deadlines. Her outburst caused me extreem stess which adversely affected my ability to focus on my projects. I started having nightmares and was literally scared of her verbally attacking me again so I kept to myself and gave her space until that morning when I asked her in so many words to give me my space today. I continued with my business and when I came home, I found that she had packed her belongings and left without a contact number or forwarding address. She had already paid for the entire month of June and left in the middle of the month -- she did not ask for the remainder of the month to be refunded nor did she give my any notice so I could find a replacement tenant. I regret telling her somewhat abruptly that I needed my space that day, but compared to her "screaming and ranting" a couple of weeks earlier, my offense was minor.
++++ UPDATE ++++
I guess the point of the first poll is moot since she "stopped-payment" on her June's rent -- Based on California Housing Laws she was required to give us 30 days notice so legally she owe us the full months rent. Also, according to the "bad-check" law, she might end up owing us 3 times the face value of the check. Now the questions becomes -- do we sue in small claims court or not? Please vote in the second poll and/or comment in the discussion area.
This poll was created on 2003-06-15 17:39:34
by LA-CL-fan

