For a little background, I'm in a somewhat strange situation considering my landlord is also my roommate and that I never signed a lease with him but have been paying in cash (his request) on a month to month basis. Yesterday, I gave notice to my landlord that I would be moving out by the end of the month and that he could keep my security deposit (equal to one month's rent) for the last month rather than me paying for my final month and having him return the deposit to me later. This is the precedent he set with a previous tenant. To my surprise, he responded that he would be holding the deposit and still requiring that I pay for my last month because of HIS bike getting stolen from his storage room in the basement a year ago. My landlord/roommate let me borrow his bike over a year ago, and when I went to put it in his storage room before leaving for the summer, I found that the lock to his door was locked but not to anything. So, I locked the bike to a chair in the storage room and left for the summer, closing (but obviously couldn't lock) the storage door behind me. Sometime between then and the start of the new school year, he notified me that his bike had been stolen.
Am I responsible for my landlord's property getting stolen from the basement storage room that only he had a key to? Am I required to pay him anything else considering we don't have a contract? And, if he tries to kick me out, is he required to give me a certain number of days before I actually have to be gone? Lastly, can he take me to court over any of this?
Sincerely,
Worried Tenant