Can a joint lease be easily broken?

November 9, 2009 5:10 PM

what are the possible repercussions of breaking a joint lease?

situation -
Boy moves in with girl who is already leasing an apartment. He is put on the lease after the fact. Boy wants to break up with girl and move out.
Can she now sue him? And if so what legal leg does she have to stand on?
How do apartment complexes usually handle this sitution. it has to be a very common one.

Would it be different if they had signed the lease at the same time and moved in together?

posted by fogonlittlecatfeet to law & government (9 comments total)

No, I am pretty sure she can't sue him.
posted by Kirklander at 5:17 PM on November 9

PS - this is occuring in Florida, if it makes a difference.
posted by fogonlittlecatfeet at 5:18 PM on November 9

Also - Boy is very scared by this and is ready to give in to some rediculous demands because he can't afford any legal fees/lawyer/court costs etc.

Is it something that would even GO to court?
posted by fogonlittlecatfeet at 5:21 PM on November 9

Check your lease and talk to your landlord and a lawyer.

In one of my wife's former apartments the landlord knew which party wasn't paying rent (they all gave a separate check) and let my wife and the good roommate continue to pay their portion without kicking them out and went after the bad roommate for the rent owed.

In the lease the wife and I have now with another roommate we'd have to pay the full rent. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to sue, but you would most likely have to pay the full rent until the suit was settled.
posted by theichibun at 5:21 PM on November 9

Is it possible to give us more detail about the lease? Is it month-by-month or for a year?
posted by Kirklander at 5:31 PM on November 9

The lease will spell-out your responsibilities. Get a copy of the lease and read it. Breaking up with girl is unlikely to get boy any slack with the landlord if he's a lessee. Some landlords might be flexible about such situations, but that would be the exception rather than the rule. If the rent doesn't get paid, boy and girl will both be named in the court papers for eviction. Sorry.
posted by paulg at 6:23 PM on November 9

If you signed a lease, you could be held liable for the remaining portions (both portions), of the unpaid rent. They might or might not be a clause in your lease that releases you from this liability for a fee. A lease is a binding legal contract. Read yours and see what it says.
posted by at the crossroads at 6:32 PM on November 9

When I broke my lease with my sister in California, I was given the option of (a) continuing to pay the rent until the lease was up, or (b) finding a new roommate, and then paying the apartment a $300 fee to have my name struck off the lease, and replaced with the new roommate's. And I would be paying rent until the new roommate was found, naturally. Either way, the apartment will want their money. Not paying rent would have landed me (and my sister) in court. You may have an option to bail out of the lease early - in exchange for several months worth of rent - but I didn't have that. Your lease should say so. If you no longer have a copy of your lease, the apartment complex should be able to get a copy for you.

There's also the option of not paying the lease fee - just continue to have your name on the lease, but with the new roommate paying. The thing about this is, if any problems come up, it'll be your name on the lease, and you may be held responsible.

I would imagine that your options will be about the same as mine, even though my situation happened in California.
posted by Xere at 7:22 PM on November 9

Unless she is the landlord, I can't see how she could sue you. However, I could definitely see her being responsible for all the rent herself once Boy is gone, and her trying to take Boy to small claims court to reclaim the amount she paid.

However, none of us can answer this because you haven't posted a copy of the lease, plus, none of us are your lawyers.

Anecdotal: I was in your situation in Texas. I moved into an apartment with a girl who'd already signed the lease, then I moved out, turned in all my stuff to the landlord and was assured that I bore no additional responsibilities. Same landlord even pulled up the file and I watched them type in the date I'd turned in the keys and parking remote. I never got a copy of the amended lease, believing I was fine.

However, I was wrong.

SHE broke the lease by moving out a few weeks after I did and about three years later I was forced to pay almost three thousand dollars in her unpaid broken-lease fees. She has never had to pay a dime. I'll probably never see a penny of that money because I didn't get a copy of the amended lease, even though computer records show my move-out date and that the landlord's property was returned (there were still five months outstanding on the lease, plus "damages", cleaning fees, abandonment fees, etc.). My roommate had no bank account or assets whatsoever, and I did. So, they got me to pay for ALL of it.

Oh, I tried to fight it, too. Turns out I had a mark on my credit stating "skipped lease -- DO NOT RENT" that prevented me from leasing anywhere in the state of Texas until 2013. So, you know, there's both people's credit score to consider in this as well.

If your situation is anything like mine was, girlfriend is bullshitting because she's not happy about paying the rent on an apartment by herself.

Your best bet is to 1) get a copy of the lease from the landlord, read it VERY CAREFULLY, and then speak directly with the landlord about this particular situation and what you can do about it with the least amount of financial and legal repercussions.

Leases vary by state and sometimes by region or property owner, so there's no universal answer to this. Boy's best option is to make some kind of agreement with the landlord and remember this experience in the future.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:48 PM on November 9