Breaking a Lease (tenant, renters, credit, roommate) - Renting -Apartments, houses, lease, tenant, landlord, agreements, termination - City-Data Forum

Kane88Fan · 02-13-2011, 09:07 AM

Hey all

,

So here is my question.. I ended up moving in with someone that didn't work out and they don't want to break the lease. What are my options?

I was thinking of subletting but my only fear is that they it won't work, so my other option which i hate to do would be to not pay.. and force the landlord to break our lease for delinquency. I have explained to the landlord my current situation about how things are not working out and they agreed to allow someone to sublease. My (soon former) roommate has said they have a replacement but i have found out through a mutual friend they plan to squat and live their alone as i pay rent for a place i'm currently not living, and haven't been for the past 2 months.

What would you guys advise me to do in this situation? and has anyone else been in a similar scenario?

Thanks for reading my post and all the help,

Squirl · 02-13-2011, 09:17 AM

How many months are remaining on the lease?

Kane88Fan · 02-13-2011, 09:20 AM

Unfortunately there is about 8 months still remaining on the lease. I ended up moving out about 1 1/2 months into our lease.

Squirl · 02-13-2011, 09:47 AM

I think you have to go with subletting or making a separate payoff deal with the LL. You really do need to have a CTJ meeting with your past roomie/livein. This is a serious matter and it will come back and bite you at some time.

ApartmentSage · 02-13-2011, 08:23 PM

This is the worst of all outcomes and I hate to say I've on the landlord end of it too often. You really do need to know who you are rooming with and what they are capable of.

In your situation, unless the landlord agrees to release you from the lease (I wouldn't but that's not a statement about you at all, it's just landlord preservation talk) you will need to make a deal with your former roommate and hope he/she keeps their end of the bargain. It might end up that you will have to use an Atty friend to write a threatening letter that will get you out of the agreement with the roommate. Let me how it goes.

IMOGAJAD · 02-13-2011, 08:54 PM

In the meantime, if you were my tenant you (or any remaining tenants) would still be responsible for the full monthly rent. I have a step daughter who just went through this mess. In my experience, it occurs far more frequently with younger renters. I avoid this situation - when I show the prospective tenant(s) they are all EQUALLY responsible for the total rent, I never hear from them again. As a LL I don't have time to listen to "he said, she said" stories. Why? Because my mortgage and utility companies don't listen to me whine about how I made a poor tenant choice and I can't pay them on time. Furthermore, if you came up with another warm body to move in, they would have to pass the same screening I put you through to be approved as a tenant. Regressing back to my step daughter: She now lives with her aunt until she can get her act together and rent a place for herself, by herself.

jdm2008 · 02-13-2011, 09:13 PM

You are in a tough spot and if the former roomate isn't going to do the right thing, then you are going to end up paying them 8 months of rent and live somewhere else. Also the landlord cannot let you out of the lease without the other guys permission.

Here's what I would do, if the other guy is not going to cooperate. I would tell them that I was not paying rent anymore period because I do not live there. The truth is even though you both have a lot to lose he has more to lose because if he doesn't pay the full amount he will be physically removed and not have a place to live. In the meantime I would find him a roommate and use this as leverage to nudge him to accept this arrangement.
How far you go with this "bluff"(you may even decide to go all the way if you cannot afford to rents), is dependent on how much you want to risk damaging your credit and rental history. But playing nice and to keep paying your share of the rent and doing nothing is a sure bet to getting ripped off.
The other option is to simply move back in(have you given possession back to the old roommate and given up the keys?). If you haven't given up possession of the unit then this is the simplest solution, and you can "persuade" the other person to allow a subleaser. If you have given up possession then this is more complicated but you may be able to demand a key from the landlord if he or the other guy has changed the locks. But I am not sure.

megan_kelly · 02-16-2011, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IMOGAJAD

In the meantime, if you were my tenant you (or any remaining tenants) would still be responsible for the full monthly rent. I have a step daughter who just went through this mess. In my experience, it occurs far more frequently with younger renters. I avoid this situation - when I show the prospective tenant(s) they are all EQUALLY responsible for the total rent, I never hear from them again. As a LL I don't have time to listen to "he said, she said" stories. Why? Because my mortgage and utility companies don't listen to me whine about how I made a poor tenant choice and I can't pay them on time. Furthermore, if you came up with another warm body to move in, they would have to pass the same screening I put you through to be approved as a tenant. Regressing back to my step daughter: She now lives with her aunt until she can get her act together and rent a place for herself, by herself.

My company's leases have the same "equally responsible" language & we often require that either each "single" qualify fully on their own or that they have a co-signer.

Maybe the OP could find a suitable replacement and see if the roommate & LL will sign him/her off of the lease while signing the replacement onto the remainder of the lease. That is what we would do, assuming that the replacement roommate is OK w/ the existing roommate & that they qualify.