Ex partner moved out, didn't remove herself from the lease. A year later, I'm unable to give my 30 day notice because she is still on there.
Hello all! I was hoping to get some advice on a bit of a frustrating situation I'm in. Over a year ago my ex partner moved out and failed to remove herself from our rental lease. I didn't realize this until later, and at that point she was long gone and we were already no contact. Now that I'm trying to move out of this unit, my rental company is telling me they can't accept my 30 day notice until *both* of us physically come in to sign the notice form. But at this point my ex is a ghost and won't respond to me or the property manager (they've tried, she leaves their emails on read).
I've already signed my lease at the new place and am actively moving in, but it appears I'm stuck paying for both places for longer because I can't give my notice until she decides to step in (if she ever does). There's also the matter of the $2700 deposit that I paid for entirely out of my own pocket, which would be lost if I were to try to leave without doing this properly. However, if that money is a lost cause anyway, I could potentially just move out rapidly and terminate without notice? That would potentially be cheaper than paying rent for who knows how long just to give the proper notice.
So here are my questions:
- Can they actually force me to keep paying indefinitely if the other lease signer is MIA, or do they have options they aren't telling me about?
- If getting her off the lease without her isn't possible, would there be consequences if I just moved out and stopped paying rent? (Obviously they'd take the money out of my deposit, but could they come after me legally or put an eviction on my record?)
I just really want to find the cleanest way to get off this lease for the minimum amount of financial damage.
Thanks so much for any advice!
I'm in California.
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