Originally Posted by KittensPurr
Firstly, you need to find out what is legal in your state. If you go to your state's gov't website, you can find the housing board listed & can call them for clarification with laws. Sometimes it's under the Tenant-Landlord category in the blue/gov't pages. Have your lease in hand & better yet, read it first, which you may not have done prior to signing it yourself. I am a landlord in MA & am very familiar with MA laws. If a tenant moves someone in, even though it is against their RHA lease (Residential Housing Authority) without written consent, credit report & signed application of their "friend", MA law states that if I don't demand that they become a co-signer, at 30-days they become a legal tenant-at-will. That means this legal tenant didn't sign the lease, so doesn't need to follow its terms. For example, I have a non-smoking, no pets building & no one may make any alterations to the apt. The "new" tenant doesn't need to abide by that, as their signature isn't on the lease.
So, in my state, the girlfriend would be considered a tenant, too, & you may be able to legally collect from her, as well, if you have a similar law. It doesn't sound like either wish to pay, but I'm just saying you need to know your state laws first before you can assert your rights. If they didn't want to pay, small claims court is an option. Be aware that you may win, but the court doesn't collect fees for you, at least in MA. I know plenty of people who won their cases, only to have the other party never pay. Eventually, they give up chasing the person around the city & cut their losses. You also must pay a fee to file a claim. And, if he doesn't appear in court, I have no idea if the case continues without him, or you need to refile with another fee? These are some things to be checking into, while you're awaiting your roomie's rent portion.
Don't change locks, if he is on the lease or if you are in a state with a law as above, as he AND she can take legal action against you & even call the police for denying them entry. Your lease has not ended, so until such time as it does, you cannot legally deny them entry. It's also against my lease for a tenant to change locks without written notice from me, as I need to have a copy of the key for planned maintenance or emergencies. I'd never give a tenant that power, as I have my own locksmith. So, you could be in trouble all the way around - police, court & landlord.
If he is on the lease or he/she are legal tenants, as a first, low cost attempt, once his rent is due & he's indicated he refuses to pay, I would mail your roommate a letter telling him he is responsible for the remainder of his portion of the rent for the lease terms & is legally bound & expected to pay. Make sure you use $$ amounts in the letter. CC the landlord on the letter. Have it certified with return receipt at the P.O. so he will need to sign for the letter. It would cost about $5. You want a returned signed receipt as proof that you mailed the letter & that he received it.
This does 2 things: As someone stated above, perhaps the landlord would temporarily reduce your rent, or spread his portion out in payments, if you discuss this with him, once the rent is in arrears. If he is not late in paying rent, do none of the above until he is, as he's paid up right now. When you speak with the landlord, leave emotion & bitter words out of it. You want to perserve your good reputation & seem honest, reliable & professional. Discuss this reasonably & tell him you're inquiring of a possible helping hand from him. Secondly, should you go the small claims court route, this registered attempt to collect will be helpful in your case. Just ensure you bring your lease, a copy of the letter, stamped receipt (proof you mailed it) & signed receipt (proof he received it) with you, otherwise you have no proof. Appear biz like & organized with everyone.
Your landlord can't place a black mark on his credit even if his name is on the lease, as you signed the lease, too, so are responsible to pay full rent. He doesn't care whom it comes from, just that it's paid. The terms are between roommates. He has no bearing, nor does he need to know who pays which %, meaning sometimes a couple lives together & one party pays a larger % of rent or perhaps none. But, he can place a black mark on any tenant who's name is on the lease, should the rent never be paid. It's not as simple as calling the credit company directly, but that's another issue & doesn't really have any bearing on you.
You may have to come up with the $ if your roomie refuses, as SCC will take time, certainly well after the lease expires. So, find a way to pay the rest of the rent & if it's absolutely impossible for you to financially swing it, approach your landlord once it is due, with your portion in hand, to discuss the situation. He may not reduce it (I've never heard of this before & as a landlord, I depend on the rent for my own housing expenses, so I'm in no financial position to bargain) or at least, he may be able to let you split up the roomie's portion over a few months, particularly if you re-sign. If you don't re-sign, he can legally deduct it from the security deposit, whether you agree or not. Try to be understanding if he refuses to bargain. Tenants don't often know this, but most small landlords don't make a profit on rents. Our rents keep the house going - pay portions of housing taxes, homeowner's insurance, maintenance, upgrades, repairs, water. We have to use our own income to cover the rest + our own living expenses. Additionally, if your roomie's already moved out for good & you are certain he won't return, can you secure another roomie for the last 2-mos? Just a thought.
These things sometimes happen & in some ways, you have no control over what a roommate will do. Personally, the 1 time I had a roommate, I didn't put his name on the lease. Why? Because if he turned out to not be the best roommate, I could simply give him 30-days notice to move. If he were on the lease & refused, I'd have little recourse as we're both legally entitled to the apt, as both names are on the lease. My solution was to live alone, because I'd always heard too many roomie horror stories - roomie's skipping out in the middle of the night with property not belonging to them, eating everyone else's food, running out on rent, etc.
Do your best to stay calm, keep a clear head each & everytime you speak with him or the girlfriend (particularly in the event you go to court) & as someone else said, chalk it up to a lesson learned should they not be responsible. Next time, put your foot down immediately, should you not be happy about another roomie moving in someone else without everyone's consent. But, those rules of the house need to be established prior to signing the lease. That's your lesson & you're quite lucky that he may only be skipping out on 2-mo's rent. It could have been 10, like a story I've heard & in this case, each party was paying $1,500/mo.
I wish you the best of luck. I hope this helped clarify a few things & your situation has a favorable resolution... VV
|
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
, a few ideas maybe sublet the place out if allowed, sell lease off, but then that could possibly open more wounds so i would just eat it untill the lease period or if cost effective look over the lease pay x amount to get out of it naturally dependant upon if the landlord/management doesn't give you a black mark for it, then your next venture i would definatly be solo.
You don't give enough details.....
Linear Mode
