Broken Lease, Five Years Ago. (apartment complex, eviction, rental property, security deposit)

[happyhelper]

Hello. I have a question. I'm trying to help out a friend who made some mistakes when he was much younger, and is having some problems making things right.

Here's some background. When he was 18, he rented an apartment. He let some roommates move in, but they were not on the lease. They turned out to be deadbeats, and trashed the place. My friend had to get out of there, and moved back in with his family. He was young and didn't know how to deal with the situation, and his family was (and is) no help.

In his absence, his friends trashed the apartment, even more. They racked up thousands of dollars worth of damages. There is no point in trying to get the money out of these people. They are just as useless, now, as they were five years ago.

My friend has gotten his act together. He has grown up, can hold down a job, is not on drugs (like those deadbeat roommates), and is trying to save up money to pay off his past bills. This is difficult, due to personal family reasons. Let me sum up by saying that his family is also of the abusive deadbeat variety, and would rather have him pay 100% of all expenses, while they live for free. I am not exaggerating in this, whatsoever.

As it stands, the only way to save up money is to rent a very cheap apartment, so that he is doesn't have to float his loathsome family. He cannot rent an apartment, because he still has this broken lease on his record, and is also responsible for paying the damages incurred by his old roommates, totaling $8000. He has come to terms with paying that money, but can make no headway when stuck paying so his family can live for free.

Is there anything he can do?

[tworent]

ya tell his family to get out of his life Being a grown up sometimes you have to make hard decisions

[happyhelper]

Originally Posted by tworent

ya tell his family to get out of his life Being a grown up sometimes you have to make hard decisions

The problem is that he cannot leave, because he has a broken lease from five years ago. Please respond accordingly.

[lawmom]

Does he have any stable, decent friends who could rent with him?

[floridacara]

If he has no friends he could rent from (and I personally don't suggest renting to or from friends/family, it has the potential to get really messy), he could look for a room to rent via craigslist, roommates.com, or some other website.

He could also try being as upfront to a landlord as you are being here on his behalf. If he goes in saying "yes, I owe this money, this is what happened," a landlord may be more willing to give him a chance, although they may ask for a slightly higher security deposit. He could also voluntarily offer frequent inspections, so the landlord could reassure themselves that he has no roommates, the property is being taken care of, etc.

People make mistakes, but there's no reason to believe that a person can't change and improve themselves.

ETA: It may not be possible to rent from an apartment complex, as they tend to look at the 'numbers' and not the story behind those numbers, but a private landlord is not going to be held to corporate's requirements.

[tworent]

Originally Posted by happyhelper

The problem is that he cannot leave, because he has a broken lease from five years ago. Please respond accordingly.

Bull thats just an excuse people are looking for roommates everyday in the paper and online that will not check credit history. He will not move out because he wants to help his family and until he comes to the fact that he is not helping but enabling them he will find excuse's matter what he says.

[jamies]

Well first of all he apparently isn't too interested since you are the one asking for help not him. But OK I'll bite.

So he is 23 years old now and presumably the family is his parents and brothers and sisters and NOT hid kids? I got out of the Army at about age 23 (maybe I was 25 I forget). I hadn't really saved much money but I had a bit of severance pay, a few grand. I bought a VW camper and lived in it at a KOA campground (pool, jacuzzi, shower room) or on the beach (cold showers, ocean and sun) for a year while I worked 2 jobs to save money. Then I started buying rental property. Within two years I had my own condo across the street from the beach in Ft. Lauderdale.

This kid needs to dump the family and let them grow up. If he has a lease on his current place he needs to give the LL notice that he plans to move and communicate with the LL about the family situation, and he needs to give his family notice - legal 30 day notice to move out. He needs to work with the LL to get the family out since they probably won't move.

He needs to keep paying the LL until the court eviction against the family is completed. Not just abandon the unit again.

Then he needs to find a room in a private home to rent. Or follow my example and buy a camper and live in it. You can pick up old motor homes for a few grand and pay for a space in a trailer park.

[nan5623]

Let him move in with you.

[Kim in FL]

Originally Posted by nan5623

Let him move in with you.

Finally, someone with some sense!!

I agree, if the OP is so worried about his friend and knows that this guy is on the up and up...he should open his home and let him get away from his family and allow him to pay off debt.

[zz4guy]

He can go section 8, or apply at some dumpy places and live there for a year to get some solid rental history. Or pay much more rent and deposit. Some places place much more emphasis on your income than history renting.