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Can I break a lease in an apartment I no longer live in? Is there any consequence of it? If I have a legal excuse for it, can I use that?
Basically, one semester of school, I got an apartment, and I roomed with someone, and we both got on the lease. They couldn't afford one month's rent, and I had to cover it for them for that month, and it took them until the middle of next month to pay it all back to me. I was going to see if I could compromise with them some how, but my family flipped out over it, and put me in a tight situation by spontaneously moving me to another apartment.
Now I'm stuck in a cramp apartment filled with cockroaches, the guy who couldn't pay the rent for the apartment now has somehow managed to pay for this month's rent, get the utilities turned back on, and is currently looking for a roommate, and my name is still on the lease.
My family tells me the guy was trying to nickle and dime me and get me to pay for his bills before forcing me out to let someone he knows move in, I assumed that he really COULDN'T pay it at the time and had to kick his butt into gear to compensate for what I didn't pay.
My dad tells me I need to "let it go", and that if my old roommate and his NEW roommate continue to pay for the rent, it will take care of itself, but if they don't, then the lease will get broken, and I will have a black mark on my record and won't be able to get an apartment in Memphis, TN ever again, which I don't mind, because I plan to live on campus next semester, and I absolutely hate Memphis, and I don't plan on coming back here ever again after I graduate. Downtown's nice. I've met some great people here, but really, this city's no place for a growing boy.
My friend, who is a graduating business major, told me that I have to go and explain to the landlord what's going on and see if he will understand and let me off the hook or put me in debt or something like that, I can't remember, and that if I just "run away from it", they will just come after me and sue me.
I tried talking to someone at my school's student financial services office for advice, but the guy I talked to acted like he didn't want to hear it (possibly because it's not his job to give me advice), and just gave me a piece of paper with information on how to take out a school loan, should I need extra money to pay for the rent, and a couple k isn't going to cover a year's rent of $400.
Honestly, I don't know what to believe anymore. All I want to do, is be done with that apartment completely, and move back home for winter break, and not do anything that might keep me from enlisting into the Coast Guard this summer or next fall, or worse, land me in jail. I really don't want to go to court over it, but if I have to, I think I do have some info on the place that could help.
So I plan on talking to the landlord tomorrow, and explaining what happened, and seeing if they will take me off the lease, with or without a black mark. But before I go open my big mouth (which has often caused more trouble than good), I want to make sure if that's a smart move. Since no professional will give me advice at my school, and I'm getting conflicting advice from my family and friend, I've turned to the internet for more juicy wisdom.
Bottom line is, regardless of where you live, your name is on the lease and you are liable for the rent, too, until the lease is up. Now you've stuck your ex roommate with paying the full rent, and he can come back and sue you for your half.
Memphis Lawyer Referral Service for a low-cost initial consultation. I'd think $35 to $50 is worth solid advice and possibly a letter written to the landlord to keep you from spewing forth some of this story.
I don't really follow the story thread as you have jumped about. Are you in the first apt or did your parents move you into a second one?
You were in a roommate situation on a lease and need to be removed from the lease. The way to do that is to get a new roommate approved by management and they will remove you and add them, kiss your deposit goodbye. As for letting it default that is nationwide. When I pull background checks I get results from 48 states and it will show me, in AZ, that you defaulted and had to be sued in TN. That will stay with you for the rest of your life. Go talk to management and get a new roommate to take over your share of the lease and make sure you get taken off it. You will have to sign something to get taken off so until you sign that you are on the hook.
You can't break the lease, because the unit isn't vacant. If the roommates also moved out, the lease could be broken, with whatever penalty is outlined in the lease, or whatever is agreed to if it isn't stated. Some landlords don't do lease breaks, and you have to pay rent until they can find replacement tenants, which in a college town, can be difficult in the middle of the school year. But the other roommate doesn't sound like they intend to leave, so that isn't an option anyway.
What you can do is try to be removed from the lease. The roommate, and the landlord would both have to agree to this, and you'll want it in writing. It sounds like that is what you intend to do, so good luck.
Not wanting to live in Memphis anymore is irrelevant. As AZ Manager said, if you aren't removed from the lease in writing, and the landlord later has to evict or get a judgment, you will be named also and that follows you for years, wherever you move in the country. Most landlords will not rent to people who have been evicted or sued by a prior landlord, even if "I had already moved out and my roommate didn't pay", which is a story landlords hear over and over again. The truth is, that doesn't make it better. You agreed to make sure the rent was paid for 12 months (or whatever your lease term is) and if you got sued or evicted, you didn't hold up your end of the deal, and it goes on your public record or credit report, depending on which it was. Period, end of story.
Personally, given the choice, I'd rather live with the person who I had to float money to cover rent for 2 weeks every month before living with cockroaches, but that is just me, I guess. You said your parents basically forced you to move immediately. In my opinion, they moved you out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now you are obligated on 2 sets of rent, AND live in a crappy apartment. So maybe they aren't making the best decisions either, and you should learn, now that you are an adult, to stand up for yourself and have an adult relationship with them, instead of parent-child. It is a hard transition, and some never succeed, but I wish you luck.
I'm really starting to not trust my parents' advice on anything in my life anymore.
@NY Annie, I moved into the apartment at the same time my roommate did, and we're both on the lease. After I had issues with my roommate, my parents and big sister basically forced me to move into a second apartment.
Anyways, I'm tired of this nonsense, and I am going to talk to the landlord today about it, and hope they will understand and help in some way. So, from what I understand, I should tell them about what happened between me and my roommate, and get something in writing taking me and my father off the lease or something to that extent.
Either that, or I need to contact a lawyer, get some advice, and have them send a letter to my landlord.
I went ahead and simply told the landlord I wanted to get off the lease and put someone else on it. He told me that I have to sign a piece of paper and so does my old roommate, so I called my old roommate up to the office and we both signed the paper.
Now all I have to do, supposedly, is move my old dresser out and return the apartment key.
I went ahead and simply told the landlord I wanted to get off the lease and put someone else on it. He told me that I have to sign a piece of paper and so does my old roommate, so I called my old roommate up to the office and we both signed the paper.
Now all I have to do, supposedly, is move my old dresser out and return the apartment key.
Signing a "?" piece of paper doesn't magically get you out of your obligations toward a lease. It could be that this landlord had decided to let you off easy. But unless the paper you signed says otherwise, he could still come after you for rent due up until he can find a tenant to replace you. It is all in the details.
In your parents day things like this were handled more more informally, so from thier perspective what they recommended was a reasonable action. However, these days, apartment complexes and landlords have gotten much more demanding that tenants fulfill their obligations to the lease and often go after people such as yourself. Don't think that because you got away with it this time that you will in the future.
Just today, I got a call from the landlord, but I missed it, so they called my dad. From what my dad told me, basically, they said that neither me, my roommate, nor my dad (who co-signed the lease because I have no credit), qualify for the apartment by ourselves as individuals, and even though my roommate told me he managed to pay for the rent this month, the landlord says that he didn't. So either my roommate has to find another roommate and get them on the lease by next Tuesday, pay for the rent next Tuesday (which I will help with since I'm still obligated and don't want any further trouble), or the landlord is going to try and take me, my dad, and my roommate to court next Wednesday.
I honestly do not trust nor expect my roommate to pay for the rent on Tuesday, nor do I expect him to find a roommate by that time. If anything, I expect him to continue to sit around and do nothing and let me carry the weight for all of us until I can't do it anymore, then we all go to court, where he and his father (who is a lawyer, but a crappy one, from the reviews I saw) will probably come up with some other excuse or lie.
I would try to go talk to the landlord about what's been going on and give my side of the story, but I don't think that a man who is all business and trying to take me to court is someone who is really going to listen to my personal gripes.
So, all of this, combined with this week's rent at the hell hole I'm in, and I'm out, at best, $700. And then I still may have more money taken from me, and may even get a black mark on my record. I don't even know.
My dad says there's nothing that can be done about it, right now: That I just wait until Nov. 24 to see if Michael pays for the bill. If not, then we all go to court, where a judge will most likely just tell all 3 of us to pay for the fee or rent, and we all get evicted, but I'm not too confident that's how it's going to end. And if I do end up having to pay for a year's worth of rent, where am I going to get that money from other than trying to get more loans?
At this point, I don't even care if I have to move back home, go into debt, whatever. I just don't want to go to jail, and I don't want anything to happen that will keep me from joining the military. Should I get a lawyer? How do I get a lawyer? Should I contact the landlord and explain what's going on? I don't think so, since, as far as he's concerned, I could be lying too.
Just today, I got a call from the landlord, but I missed it, so they called my dad. From what my dad told me, basically, they said that neither me, my roommate, nor my dad (who co-signed the lease because I have no credit), qualify for the apartment by ourselves as individuals, and even though my roommate told me he managed to pay for the rent this month, the landlord says that he didn't. So either my roommate has to find another roommate and get them on the lease by next Tuesday, pay for the rent next Tuesday (which I will help with since I'm still obligated and don't want any further trouble), or the landlord is going to try and take me, my dad, and my roommate to court next Wednesday.
I honestly do not trust nor expect my roommate to pay for the rent on Tuesday, nor do I expect him to find a roommate by that time. If anything, I expect him to continue to sit around and do nothing and let me carry the weight for all of us until I can't do it anymore, then we all go to court, where he and his father (who is a lawyer, but a crappy one, from the reviews I saw) will probably come up with some other excuse or lie.
I would try to go talk to the landlord about what's been going on and give my side of the story, but I don't think that a man who is all business and trying to take me to court is someone who is really going to listen to my personal gripes.
So, all of this, combined with this week's rent at the hell hole I'm in, and I'm out, at best, $700. And then I still may have more money taken from me, and may even get a black mark on my record. I don't even know.
My dad says there's nothing that can be done about it, right now: That I just wait until Nov. 24 to see if Michael pays for the bill. If not, then we all go to court, where a judge will most likely just tell all 3 of us to pay for the fee or rent, and we all get evicted, but I'm not too confident that's how it's going to end. And if I do end up having to pay for a year's worth of rent, where am I going to get that money from other than trying to get more loans?
At this point, I don't even care if I have to move back home, go into debt, whatever. I just don't want to go to jail, and I don't want anything to happen that will keep me from joining the military. Should I get a lawyer? How do I get a lawyer? Should I contact the landlord and explain what's going on? I don't think so, since, as far as he's concerned, I could be lying too.
I know I don't listen to sob stories however I will listen to solutions. I've changed due dates and allowed extra grace periods to tenants that approach me with a laid out plan. I'm also working for myself and it is my money and an apartment manager doesn't have as much room to work as I do. You need to tell your dad that if it goes to court it also goes on your credit report, and his if he is a co-signer which it sounds like he may be. Your best bet is to come up with a plan of action and follow through with it. What does it cost to break the lease? Could your roommate get another roommate so those two qualify and you get removed? If your lease break fee is reasonable why would your roommate stay if you are willing to pay for it?
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