I stay in California. I had lived in this apartment with a roommate
for
last 9 months. I did not sign the lease for the apartment since my
roommate had already signed it and I didn't find a reason to go
through the paperwork. Since I had been living in that apartment for
last 9 months all my credit card, bank accounts, paycheck have this
address. I had been paying half the rent regulary for this period.

Now my roommate says that I have to vacate the apartment in two days.
I am in no position to do that currently. He threatens that he is
going to change the lock in the apartment and I would not be able to
enter the apartment. My question is
what legal rights do I have as a resident of this apartment for last 9
months who had been paying half the rent. Is there a minimum time
period which I should get before I vacate the apartment. Is the
roommate required to give some sort of notice.

I do not need much time. I can vacate the apartment in a week (next
weekend), but it is not possible to do this just in two days.

What should I do in case he changes the lock in the apartment and I
have all my belongings in the apartment.

thanks.

Hello--

I have carefully researched your question and have your answer.

I'm going to dissect your situation piece by piece to give you the
most thorough answer.

First, I need to tell you that I work with housing and apartment
issues on a daily basis and have researched this subject.

You first discussed how your name is not on the lease but your
roommate's name is. The lease is an agreement between a landlord and a
tenant. If you are not listed on the lease, you are not the tenant.

However, you said you have lived there for nine months and have been
paying half the rent. Your roommate obviously asked you to move in
with him (or you had some kind of initial agreement). If you have this
agreement in writing, you need to abide by what that document states.
If you don't have it in writing but did have some sort of verbal
agreement with your roommate, that may be binding. You'll need to talk
with your roommate about this to discuss your initial agreement.

Since your roommate's name is the only one on the lease between the
landlord and the tenant, he has every legal right to tell you to
leave. However, it does seem quite unreasonable to ask you to vacate
within two days. But I don't know the other elements of your recent
relationship. You should talk with him about your ability to leave by
the end of the week. Perhaps you would want to pay an extra fee to
stay there for another seven days.
 
You roommate may or may not have the legal authority to change the
locks on your residence. If you have a copy of the lease or can access
a copy of the lease between him and the landlord, you can find out
what the rules are. But there's a good chance the lease outlines how
your roommate may not make any changes (such as changing the locks)
without the expressed written consent of the landlord. He then would
have to supply the landlord with a key. This is sometimes a long
process, depending on how the landlord feels about this issue.

Your main question seems to be whether there's a legal minimum amount
of time your roommate would be required to give before you vacate the
apartment. This all depends on what your agreement is with him. If you
had a written agreement with your roommate, outlining the specifics of
your living arrangements, you'll need to abide by those rules.

I'm guessing that you don't have any such written agreement, since
you're asking this question. There are no state laws that address this
issue in California. You are legally considered a "guest" in his
rental unit. And since you're a guest, you need to abide by his rules.
You can, of course, try to negotiate with him a time frame.

If he does change the locks on your apartment, the first thing I would
do is contact the landlord. Notify the landlord that the locks have
been changed and tell him/her your situation. If your roommate did not
notify the landlord of the change of locks, your landlord can take
appropriate legal action against your roommate as the sole tenant in
the apartment.

Further, your roommate is required by state law to give you your
property. If your roommate changes the locks and does not allow you in
to get your property, you should call your local police department and
file a theft report. He is legally obligated to give you your
belongings. If you are able to call police to your apartment, police
will be able to handle this situation.

The California Apartment Association web site may be of some help to
you. The link to the legal desk of the CAA is
http://www.caanet.org/default.asp?id=1005

You may also want to read information from the California Department
of Consumer Affairs. They have a guide to tenants' rights online. The
link is http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/

If you are looking for a landlord/tenant attorney in California, I
found one. The link is http://www.tenant-rights.net/

To conduct this research, I searched the following terms:

california landlord/tenant
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=california+landlord%2Ftenant

california roommate
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=california+roommate

I hope this helps. If you need any clarification, please don't
hesitate to ask.

Thanks,

darrel-ga

Abhinay,
          First, please, calm down. It often looks worse then
 it is.

  The fact that you have been paying part of the rent
  for any length of time, in an informal arangement,
  does not give you any legal rights to staying in the apartment.

  Evictions and notices are instruments between landlord and tenants,
  which is not your case.
  
  You have legal right to your property and you will  be granted
  access -- if necessary by the legal process.

  But this does not really look like a candidate for a legal 
proceeding. Your roomate is not trying to keep your things, right?

 And after you express  willingness to move, he will very likely be
 willing to give few extra days necessary to find a new place...

That is unlikely to be correct.

The relationships appear to be:
1. Landlord
2. Tenant / Landlord to subtenant (Abinay)
3. Subtenant (Abinay)

Despite the lack of a formal relationship between abinay and the owner
of the complex, he has been paying rent in return for the right to
live there. It is probable that his roommate, the formal tenant of the
apartment, would be regarded in the eyes of the law as his landlord.

I will again reiterate that, whatever the nature of the lease
agreement between your friend and his landlord, there can (and
probably does) exist a separate legal status between you and your
friend.

California Civil Code section 1946.5, subdivision (c) defines a
"lodger" as "a person contracting with the owner of a dwelling unit
for a room or room and board within the dwelling unit personally
occupied by the owner, where the owner retains a right of access to
all areas of the dwelling unit occupied by the lodger and has overall
control of the dwelling unit."

The California Department of Consumer Affairs has posted information
about the rights of lodgers in private residences, describing the type
and length of notice that must be given for an eviction, ordinarily
the period of time between rental payments, at:
http://www.dca.ca.gov/legal/landlordbook/whois.htm