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What can i do if i signed a lease with 3 people and one of them bails and refuses to pay rent?
Anonymous3 views3 answers
Last august i signed a lease with myself and two other girls. one of which got a puppy without prior approval. it thurns out the property owner said no dogs allowed on premisis. so in the middle of the night before rent is due, she leaves. no warning and screwed us over. The property manager said there is nothing he can due. He can not take her name off the lease and we have to cover her part. truth is, i can't afford that and don't have a clue what to do...
You can sue her in small claims court for her portion of the rent for flaking out on you. The landlord is correct that all of you as tenants are jointly and severally liable for paying the entire monthly rental amount if one of you bails. So, each of you are responsible individually for the entire month's rent. You can ask the landlord if you can add on another tenant to the lease. They should probably not object as long as the person has decent credit and the two of you are also liable for the rent.
There are two separate legal relationships here: between the tenants and the landlord, and then between the tenants themselves. If you all signed the lease, then the person that left in the middle of the night is still contractually obligated to you for her share of the rent. The problem is that the landlord does not have to only chase the person that left as you are collectively liable for the monthly rent. As the other posting attorney suggested, you should seek a new roommate that you can offer to the landlord as a replacement tenant because suing your former roommate in court for damages is how you can enforce your rights, but it will not stop the landlord from being able to evict you if you cannot cover the full amount of the rent.
Unfortunately, you and your roommates are each responsible for the whole rent. The landlord can pursue colleciton from any of you and, since the third girl took off, the landlord is most likley to look to you and your remaining roommate.
You have the right to sue the flakey roommate for her contribution to the rent. You could also attempt to find a replacement roommate. If you find someone willing to take her place and the landlord unreasonably refuses to rent to that person, you may have a defense of failure to mitigate if the landlord attempts to collect the rest of the rent from you. Unfortunately, the landlord is not responsible for forcing your flakey roommate to pay her share. That responsibility falls on you.
