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hello,
here's the scenario:
I am sharing an apt with a person who originally had signed the apt agreement. I moved in way after the agreement was signed (about 7 months later). When I moved in the apartment management did a credit check on my SSN. Later on my roomie extended the lease which will expire this month and both of us will vacate the apt. Now the issue is this person would be leaving prior to I leave and I would be the last one to vacate this apt and handover keys. The question is upon inspection by property holders if any damage found in apt who would be liable to pay the damage? Is it me or the person who signed the agreement initially or both of us?
By law i dont have to leave any followup address, is this correct and by law can the apartment holders fine me if they are unable to get hold of this guy?
If management did a credit check, why weren't you added to the lease? Were you maybe put on as an occupant? In any event, there are 2 contracts here...the written one with your roommate and landlord and a verbal one with you and your roommate. Both are enforceable. You need to give your forwarding address to your roommate, not the landlord. If there are damages, the landlord will go after your roommate, and if the roommate disagrees that they were his responsibility, then he'll go after you. Honestly, the damages are the responsibility of whoever made them. It sounds to me like you know there are damages and that they're a result of your actions, but you're trying to skate away from your obligations.
If management did a credit check, why weren't you added to the lease? Were you maybe put on as an occupant? In any event, there are 2 contracts here...the written one with your roommate and landlord and a verbal one with you and your roommate. Both are enforceable. You need to give your forwarding address to your roommate, not the landlord. If there are damages, the landlord will go after your roommate, and if the roommate disagrees that they were his responsibility, then he'll go after you. Honestly, the damages are the responsibility of whoever made them. It sounds to me like you know there are damages and that they're a result of your actions, but you're trying to skate away from your obligations.
well thanks for the reply. i was put in as an occupant. the apartment had some damage before i moved in hence the concern of maybe me having to pay for someone else's fault.
You're welcome. What should happen at the beginning of a tenancy is a move in inspection. Your roommate should have done one with the landlord when he moved in and noted any damages so he wouldn't be held liable and you should have done one with your roommate when you moved in and noted any damages so you wouldn't be held liable. Without those documents, there's no way for the landlord to determine which damages were caused by which residents, in which case, all of the charges fall on the most current residents. So if you don't have an inspection, unfortunately, you're on the hook for damages. Also, if you're on the lease as an occupant, the landlord can try to name you in any action he takes against your roommate. Whether or not he's successful honestly depends on the judge.
Whoever is on the lease when everyone is out will be responsible. So, even if your roommate leaves early, if they are still on the lease, they are responsible with you. You would both have to sign basically a roommate release form saying that the person leaving relinquishes all claim to deposit, and that the person staying assumes all responsibility for damage.
Yes, the apartment owner can turn the account over to a collections agency to track you down, regardless of wether you leave a forwarding address or not.
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