Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with roommate and lease

Deposit for old rental I don't live at.

wcfields — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:32:28 -0800

I moved into a house with some friends in Los Angeles California, we all split the deposit (shared was $700 each), things got weird and I moved out with the person moving into my room agreeing to pay my share of the deposit. That was a year ago and promises of "in the fall" have now gone silent. What do I do now? Long story short: Roommate started dating ex-boyfriend of my girlfriend and he basically moved in within a week of them dating, so I moved in with my girlfriend and out of the house. The person who moved into my old room said they would pay me my share of the deposit in the fall. In June my girlfriend and I moved to Oregon and now that I've asked a few times with no response what should I do?

I will be visiting LA in a few weeks, should I file a small claims? Am I legally entitled to the person moving in and agreeing (written in email) to pay my share of the deposit (but hasn't) to do so? Legally am I entitled to it from the lease holder or do I need to wait for them to move from that property? The original lease was signed over a year ago in May 2007 and by now has probably reverted to month to month. I was never on the lease.

Help me get rid of an unwanted guest

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:34:44 -0800

I'd like to know how to deal with an unwanted "guest" living in an apartment that I'm paying rent for. This is my situation:
I am renting an apartment with my ex-boyfriend, Mark (both our names are on the lease). I am no longer living there but I am continuing to pay half of the rent. Mark found someone to move into my old room and began collecting money from this person. Mark lied to the new roommate about the amount of rent and bills and ended up charging him over 50%. This was in addition to the 50% that I was paying at the time. In other words, Mark avoided paying any rent/bills and managed to make a tidy profit. When I found out about the new roommate, he was surprised to discover that the amount of rent/bills were not what Mark had told him.

I spoke with a housing adviser on campus who told me that the new occupant should actually be subletting off of me, since he'd been living in my old room. The problem got even more complicated when this new roommate refused to reimburse me for the remaining months of my lease and refused to sign any sort of sublet agreement. Instead, he insisted on paying the money directly to Mark and having Mark pay the money to me - despite the fact that Mark had shown himself to be a bit of a scam artist.

I've spoken to a police officer and the landlord and both have told me that I'm not able to have the new roommate removed since he's considered a "guest" of Mark's. So, now I'm left with having someone living in the room that I'm currently paying for. I'm worried that I'll be liable for any damage caused by the new roommate.

Is there any suggestions for having this person removed or forcing them to pay me for the room that I am renting? Also, the new roommate is a recipient of government disability and both Mark and the new roommate signed a form falsely indicating that the total rent paid to the landlord was more than it really was (although the new roommate didn't know this at the time). If I fail to report this, would I be considered an accessory to fraud?

P.S. If it's relevant, we're located in London, Ontario. Throwaway email: ontariotenantproblems@gmail.com

creepy roommate...question about getting out of the lease?

atetrachordofthree — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:49:44 -0800

I am a 25 year old graduate student. I signed a lease with a 20 year old undergrad who has nothing in common with me, except that we are from the same country. She seems fine at first, just socially awkward, but after a month of living together she began to be extremely rude/inpolite, and show signs of hostility. I tried to talk to her about it a couple of times, but only got emails that basically tells me to stop bothering her. She is NOT a bad roommate in all other ways-- quiet,clean, fiscally responsible. But I am really fed up with the negative vibe in the apartment, and I felt that I've done everything I can to keep our interactions civil, but to no avail. I am really wanting to move out. I am honestly also a little scared by her, because she does this freakishly creepy "death glare" when I greet her, throws tantrums unexpectedly without telling me why (slam door, etc), and I sometimes find torn up/cut up stuff in the trash can. I feel like this girl has some serious crazy in her. She got really pissed the other day because I had friends over and didn't tell her, but truth to be told I chickened out when I was trying to tell her because she stared at me like she was going to kill me, so I didn't say a word. She also has friends over 5 nights out of 7, never notify me first. I love this apartment, and my landlord is amazing. My lease is not up until july 2010, though. If I find someone to take over my lease, can I get out of it? And do I need to get my roommate to consent (we both signed the lease)? or is it just me and the landlord? I really don't want to have to talk to her more than absolutely necessary.

Help me prepare an informal lease while temporarly living with a friend.

Anonymous — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:42:14 -0800

Need help writing an informal lease while renting a room out of a friends house. I am going through a divorce, and am currently staying with a friend who owns a house. I don't intend to stay in the state forever, just until I get things in order in my life. I am paying her rent and helping with the utilities. Our friendship is strong, and we're both fair reasonable adults. There is no concern about getting "burned" or becoming a slack roommate. I'm just looking to write some sort of informal lease so we both have something in black & white to go by. Can anyone recommend any resources, or provide any advice? A generic template would be great. This is very casual, and friendly. We both want something pretty simple. Thanks in advance!

How to get rid of a new roommate who, it turns out, has a rap sheet?

UrbanEye — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:44:58 -0800

Just signed a 5 month lease with 4 roommates found on Craigslist, then found out one guy has a criminal record a mile long! How should I begin to deal with this so things don't get physically dangerous, or legally murky? I am a current tenant at an apartment which will soon have 3 new tenants on a lease, and 2 (including myself) who have been there for a month or so. The landlord wants everyone to be on a one year lease, but one tenant is moving out in mid July. So, we signed a lease that's good till July and we will need to find a replacement for the person leaving in July before signing the one year lease.

Anyway, myself and the other tenant staying on found two really cool, nice people for the apartment. Unfortunately, the landlord sort of went over our heads and gave our fifth room to someone we had shown the place to, but had not confirmed as someone we liked.

Turns out that the 5'th roommate got out of jail two months ago, (a fact learned due to alcohol). A quick check of online court records brought up a substantial list of retail theft, drug, and criminal mischief charges. We (obviously) knew nothing about this beforehand.

The 5'th roommate has also made our lone female roommate, (the other tenant staying on from before) very uncomfortable with his lewd commentary. Upon finding out she was married, he said "that must be hard, but you have guys on the side right?" *wink* *wink*

I foresee a very complicated situation developing very fast. I don't want to live with a thief and a creep, but I also don't want to try kicking out a man who's been to jail and has been charged with "resisting arrest", "simple assault", and "criminal mischief".

My landlord may or may not know how to handle this in a mature way.

Help With Getting out of Lease

cbulock — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:31:56 -0800

My girlfriend needs to move out of her apartment she is sharing with roommates. What types of consequences could she be facing financially? Can she find any person to replace herself on the lease? The background to this is quite long, but essentially my girlfriend moved in with two other friends of hers last fall. The relationship between them quickly fell apart and they have been very controlling of her. They decide what times she needs to go shopping, when she needs to clean. Unfortunately, she had been letting them walk all over her. All this time they keep threating to kick her out. This was her fault initially as the very first month, she was late on her rent, but she has been on time every since.
Now the reasons for trying to kick her out is because she doesn't shop with them, or she isn't home when they clean.
She was willing to move out, but before they moved in, they all signed a contract that stated they would all pay their share of the rent even if one of them was evicted by the others. This added to her roommates threats as they kept insisting that she would have to keep paying even if they kicked her out.
Since around Christmas, she hasn't even been living their as she had to move back with her parents due to some transportation issues. But they are still insisting she buys things like toilet paper and dish soap since she agreed share the costs of those items. I'm a really caring person normally, but the way they are treating her really has me infuriated.
Even though she hasn't been living there, most of her things are still there. She plans to move out this weekend though. She has been leery to do so though, as she is still going to be paying the rent. I suggested before to her to look for a replacement for herself. Her roommates were against the idea and said only if it was someone they knew and approved of.
My main questions are, is it possible to find someone else to take over her lease for her, and would the other roommates have to approve of that person. What about mitigation of damages? If she moves out, will she been stuck will lease payments for the rest of the lease, or are her roommates eventually responsible for replacing her. This is in Michigan, BTW if any of these answers pertain to laws that differ by the state. And I realize most people answering aren't giving actual legal advise.

Submitting 30-Day-Notice on Apartment

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:14:26 -0800

I am trying to end my tenancy in a month-to-month lease in Los Angeles, but the landlord says that submitting a 30-day-notice won't absolve me of any future responsibility if my roommate stays in the apartment. Please hope me! I would like to get out of my current lease by giving my landlord a written thirty days notice, which is what's required by law in California. However, my roommate would like to stay in the apartment so the management company is telling me that the notice would essentially be meaningless unless he is leaving as well.

I spoke with my roommate and he doesn't think he'll be able (due to laziness or whatever) to find a new roommate for January 1st, so I am trying to protect myself by having myself removed from the lease, which is what I understood the law to mean. I am already paying rent on two apartments (the current one and the new one) so I don't want to do that again in January in the event that he doesn't find another suitable roommate.

So my question is this - is there any way to force a removal of myself from liability unilaterally? Is this a situation where my roommate has to "turn his key" at the same time, as they saying goes. I just want to be done with the apartment and not be responsible for the rent after December 31st. It seems crazy that I cannot just give notice and be done with it.

I called the LA housing authority people and the guy I spoke with wasn't very helpful. This is time sensitive since today is the 1st of the month and any advice or input would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has any follow-up questions, you can email me at apartmentalrentalaskme@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Roommate he-said she-said results in us being short a quarter of the rent. Help!

malapropist — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:30:28 -0800

My roommate wants me to find someone to take her part of the rent, arguing that the people who took over my part of the rent really took over her part. She is threatening to simply not pay. We have one month (Nov) left on the lease. Her name, as well as mine and two other roommates' are on the lease. If she went ahead and didn't pay, how badly would this affect my credit? It's a long, boring, story but here it is:

Up until yesterday I was sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with three other people: I shared one room with Nader, while Obama and Biden shared the other. All four of us are on the lease, which will be up at the end of this month, November.

About two weeks ago, our neighbors were evicted, a couple named McCain and Palin. Nader invited them to stay in our dining room until they found somewhere to live. Right around this time I decided to move out. At first I talked to McCain and Palin about taking over my portion of the rent, but they were tight with money and couldn't commit to anything. So I posted a craigslist ad, but didn't get any luck with someone moving in.

A few days after I started talking about replacing myself and moving out, Nader starts talking about moving into a vacancy in a neighbor's apartment, which would be cheaper than the share she paid with us. She talked to McCain and Palin about taking over her portion of the rent, and for about the last week things have been very vague. They weren't sure if McCain and Palin would take over the whole room that I and Nader share, or if McCain/Palin were going to take over Nader's portion, or if McCain and Palin were going to move upstairs with Nader.

Finally, on maybe Saturday or Sunday, Nader told me that she was going to have McCain and Palin take over her part of the rent, but it was already the 1st or 2nd of the month, and rent is late on the 4th. I wasn't having any luck getting out of the place, and Nader, McCain and Palin hadn't gotten their share of the rent in, so I approached McCain on the 2nd about moving into my half of the room.

He told me he could get me the rent money if I was willing to pay for it and let him pay me back. I was pretty desperate and the rent was only 325, so I went ahead and made a money order (the only way our complex accepts rent) and gave it to Obama, who handles the rent. He gave me 50 on the spot, promising another 100 yesterday and the rest on Friday. I went ahead and wrote up this arrangement in plain English, with both of our names on it, and had him sign it. At the time, I thought I should do this in case he didn't make with the rent money, I wanted to have a paper record.

The next day, the 3rd, yesterday, he shows up with all of the rest of the rent money. He hands it to me, and I start packing. But Nader also starts packing. In fact, she moves all her stuff upstairs to the neighbor's house. By the time I'm ready to leave, she realizes that McCain and Palin are not taking over her portion of the rent, but mine. She gets really pissed off at me and won't talk to me.

Later on in the night, after I had left, she calls me and our conversation soon turns into yelling. She claims that this is my responsibility and that I had better find someone to replace her and in the meantime I need to pay the rent so there is no late fee (because remember the rent is late as of the 4th, today), and that if the fourth portion of the rent (which I argue is her portion) is not ready to be paid, then I should pay the late fee ($50) as well. I told her that I had everything in writing, it was my name on my portion of the rent, and there was a written agreement between me and McCain/Palin.

Nader is threatening to leave the rent hanging, and talking to the management company they make no distinction between my, Nader's, Obama's or Biden's rent, they just want it all in, including the $50 now.

Like I said, all four of our names are on the lease, including Nader's, because even if McCain and Palin had taken over her rent, it was unofficial, they're just subletting and Nader's name is still on the lease. Of course, that is still true of me. And I don't want to get fucked.

Now, I can't tell if Nader would be willing to just filch on the rent if her name is on the lease, but if she did, what would be the repercussions? Would this screw up my credit? I can't really tell from google searches.

I do have a few more people on craigslist inquiring about the half-room that is available, but in case they continue passing on the place I'm really worried.

Short summary: one month left on the lease, I and someone who is unwilling to pay but still staying in the apartment complex (right up the stairs in fact) are both on the lease, what legal obligations and repercussions are there if I simply say, "I got someone to pay my part of the rent, and this is not my problem any longer"?

This is in southern California, by the way. Thanks.

PS: As I was writing this Obama called me and told me that non-payment of rent will result in a dark stain on our credit forever and a bill of $500 due on each of us on top of the rent we owe. Must be in the lease. Sound legit? I really don't know with these people.

Don't sh*t where you eat?

adamk — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:32:06 -0800

RoommateConflictFilter: I'm a guy in my mid-20s living in a bachelor pad with two other similarly-aged guys. The two roommates have had a huge falling out (over a girl, naturally) on month two of a twelve-month lease, and after days of constantly talking about it, it seems like the only solution is for one of them to move out. The only thing that we've agreed on is that I'm not going anywhere. So now what? We're all on the lease, and I want to make sure that nobody gets burnt any worse than has already happened. A bad attempt at keeping a long story short... I apologize, because I normally grumble at these kinds of posts :)

I've been friends with "Mike" for five years (college buddy), and we've lived together off-and-on in the past with no problems. Most recently we had spent a year each living with other people from our group of friends, but were both extremely excited to start living together again.

Mike met "Dan" a few months ago and they got along well enough where Mike suggested that we all move in together. He is a reasonable guy, but I don't know him that well, and would probably never have lived with him if it wasn't for Mike vouching for him. We found an amazing house that we can reasonably afford with three people, but certainly can't afford with two.

Awhile after we moved in, Mike started dating Dan's friend "Jen". Before this Dan and Jen were extremely close, with her coming over multiple times a week to hang out, eat dinner, etc. Their friendship that was describable as platonic but had enough flirting where an outsider (like myself) couldn't know for sure.

Dan seemed cool with Mike and Jen's new relationship, but was constantly asking to tag along or be included when they hang out because they were "his two best friends". They played along for awhile, but eventually got uncomfortable and said something along the lines of "hey buddy, we've got our own thing going on, you can't expect to hang out with us ALL of the time". This makes Dan sulk for awhile, but it seemed to blow over.

Until a few days ago, when the shit finally hit the fan. A generic domestic argument over a party mess resulted in a fight in which it was made clear that Mike and Jen no longer wanted to deal with Dan's influence in their relationship. Extremely harsh words were exchanged, Jen got hysterical and things almost got violent between the guys.

Days later and nothing has improved. Both parties are sure that they did nothing wrong, and won't budge. The only thing that they've agreed on is that someone needs to move out. Coincidentally, Dan is leaving tomorrow for a 10-day vacation, and we're going to figure out what needs to happen for when he gets back.

So, now what? I don't think anyone is being evil or unreasonable in all of this. I see where everyone is coming from, it's just one of those unfortunate situations. I don't mind the girl or the relationship and would really prefer to live with my friend, but it seems a bit rough to kick out the guy who claims that he tried to do a good thing and lost two friends over it. Then again, I don't know him that well, and he really seems to be in denial over everything.

What's the best way to decide on who needs to leave if nobody volunteers? What precautions do we need to take as we attempt to find a new roommate? If the landlords would go for it we may be willing to remove the person who leaves from the lease (a big if). Plus, due to how difficult it is to have these problems while the current three of us on the lease, I'm not sure I'd want to put a random Craigslist stranger on the lease in place of the person who leaves.

Any advice/anecdotes would be appreciated.

Do I have to pay my roommate's debt?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:06:38 -0800

I'm in a financial pickle due to a bad choice of roommates two years ago. What are my options? Two years ago, I moved in with a girl during my divorce. I was put on the lease as an "addendum" and while I lived in her apartment, I paid 100% of the bills. About a week after I moved out (before her lease was up), she skipped out on the lease. Stupidly, when I turned in my key, remote and parking pass, I asked for a copy of the lease with my name stricken from it and was told that it wasn't necessary... the office woman assured me that I didn't need it and they would strike the addendum from the lease. I walked out not realizing that this girl was planning on moving out, but she did... and left owing almost three thousand dollars. How, I don't know, because I paid EVERYTHING when I stayed there.

For the past year and a half, I have been receiving notices from the creditor who purchased the debt. I spoke with someone recently and tried to explain my situation... unfortunately, the divorce coupled with an IRS audit has cost me over $30,000 and I am more or less penniless. The last thing I can afford now is to pay for someone stupid and irresponsible's mistake.

Unfortunately, the credit company has had no luck getting this girl to pay. She apparently has no bank account, no assets to seize, and refuses to work out a payment plan for the debt. I consulted a lawyer and was told that at some point, the credit company has the right to put a lien on my home to recover the debt. Apparently, this can be done without going to court and without notifying me... and will be horrible for my credit. What options do I have? I cannot pay the debt. I have sold everything of value I own, down to my shoes and clothing. Every penny I have goes to my house payment. It's all I have left. I have accrued almost five thousand dollars in credit card debt just buying groceries and so forth so I cannot put this debt on a credit card... it's maxed out.

Can I negotiate some kind of "settlement payment" with the credit company without a lawyer? I have already tried going directly to the apartment complex people, who told me I was "in collusion" because we left during the same 30-day period. They will not give me a copy of the lease, or the addendum. I cannot afford a lawyer. I have been told I can try going to the Texas Tenants Union, since I'm in Texas, but they probably won't be able to do much.

Has anyone else been in this situation? If so, how did you handle it? I'm worried that before I know it, they will put the lien on my home, and then I won't be able to sell it if I have to. Things are very touch-and-go financially for me, so I would prefer to avoid the lien.

Another person told me that my best option would be to settle the debt directly with the credit company and then take the former roommate to small claims court; how can I do that if I have to charge my groceries as it is? Wouldn't I have to pay a lawyer for that, too?

If anyone would like to respond off-site with ideas or suggestions, please email roommatetrauma@gmail.com. As stated, I am in Texas, if that helps.

Advise a SF renter?

aladfar — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:20:28 -0800

Advise a San Francisco renter? I've about 6 weeks left on my current lease, and just had a new roommate move in. Rather than tack him on to the remaining time, my landlord would like to scrap the previous lease and have us sign on for a year. I've a feeling my roommate would prefer that as well. I, however, don't wish to be committed that long. So, I'm thinking I'll push for a 6 month lease - the same term as my last agreement. But I suspect I'll want to move sooner than that, perhaps as early as 3 or 4 months. I've come to realize that I'd much prefer my own place, and should be able to swing it financially.

I think the best strategy would be to tack the new roomie onto the current lease and then go month to month when it expires (I believe tenants have that right here in SF). But I suspect that will generate more than a little ill will.

Any advice on how to handle the situation would be much appreciated!

How do I best navigate through a bad landlord/tenant situation?

SeizeTheDay — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:07:32 -0800

Complicated, messy NYC roommate/landlord question: 4 roommates share a 3 bedroom converted into 4 (with permission). One roommate signed a lease for a new building without getting permission from current building to transfer name on lease to new roommate. Said old roommate now refuses to pay six months of rent (remainder of lease). Much, much more inside. So three out of 4 roommates want to get out of current lease by assigning the lease to new people. This was never a problem in the building before, but now building has new ownership, and they’re making this difficult/impossible.

Two roommates are unemployed and need to get out. One of two refuses to pay remaining 6 months of lease (even though he lied about his income and signed a new one year lease in NJ). Third roommate that wants to leave has signed a one year lease (in another building) starting in May.

Leasing agent for landlord will not give us a straight answer about assigning lease to other candidates. We gave management 3 very viable replacement candidates, including all application material. This morning one of the candidates was explicitly rejected by management because it was for the converted room (despite giving us (the current tenants) no notice of this). They refuse to comment on the other two applications.

I am one of the three that wants to move out. I am willing to pay my 6 months remainder of the lease to avoid credit problems, court appearances, etc. but (as I said earlier) one roommate refuses to pay the next 6 months and other two roommates refuse to cover the deadbeat’s share (and eventually sue deadbeat). Important note: landlord refuses to accept partial payments of rent, so if deadbeat doesn’t pay and we don’t cover his share, leasing agent won’t cash our checks.

Leasing agency refuses to break the lease. Deadbeat refuses to pay. And the third roommate that wants to leave (who signed elsewhere) is starting to think that he should refuse to pay as well and let them sue us all.

I don’t want to be sued. I want to pay my 6 months and get the hell out of this situation. Ideally, I want management to take the applicants we gave them to replace us, but if that’s not going to happen, I need to know what my best option is. Should I: 1) Refuse to pay and let them sue, knowing full well they’d sue anyway because deadbeat won’t pay. 2) Pay my rent and pray that they cash my check and understand the situation (I’m going to camp out in the office on Monday until they at least hear my case). 3) Promise the landlord a check for the full amount of my share if they leave me alone. 4) Something else?

What happens if they sue me? Will I be on the hook for the entire unpaid amount (which may be up to $30000, assuming no one pays ever from now until lease end)? Can I use old checks to prove I only paid x dollars/month and the judge will only require me to owe x? I really have no clue here.

I’m in NYC. I have contacted legal aid and lawyers. I will be speaking with a lawyer that specializes in this on Monday. But I don’t want to pay $300/hour given how ignorant I am of this situation, because that consultation would end up costing me hundreds alone. So before I go to the lawyer, I’d like some anecdotal and street advice about my options. Sorry for the length. ANY help at all is unbelievably appreciated right now. Thanks.

Roommate filter: help me find a roommate

Cogito — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:31:16 -0800

What are some good roommate matching services? I need to find a roommate to move in in August because my landlord wants me to re-sign now and my current roommate is leaving. I've heard good things about roommates.com, but it only allows you to advertise rooms available in the next 120 days. This is an annoying situation, but seems to by typical for living in a college town. Roommate Nation looks kinda sketchy, but I could be wrong.

If it makes any difference, I live in Iowa City; I'm a late 20s male professional and I'm looking for someone similar. It doesn't matter if they're male or female. A student would be OK, but not ideal.

Lease extension to an awful roommate?

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:48:57 -0800

Roommatefilter: My roommate/renter has asked for an extension to her lease with only a week's notice; I don't like living with her, but don't have anyone waiting to move in, either. I rent out the extra bedroom in my condo using a written lease based on a standard Massachusetts template. The term of the current tenant ends Feb 29. The lease allows for conversion to month-to-month at the end of the term with my consent and 30 days written notice. On Feb. 23 she asked if she could stay through the end of March. She is an international student and was originally planning to leave the country at the end of Feb, but has postponed to April to wait for an interview. We are both female and mid/late-20s; I work somewhat more than full-time, and she is completing a part-time internship.

I don't currently have anyone waiting to move in to the room, mainly because this roommate has been driving me crazy since she moved in and I was really looking forward to taking a break for some peace and quiet for a month or two. Briefly, she has no consideration for me (noise, parties, smells, not locking doors, unexpected overnight visitors; waking me up in the middle of the night because she's so drunk she needs help getting into bed without passing out) or my home and possessions (ruining pots and pans, breaking dishes, staining carpets, never cleaning up after herself or replacing or repairing damage). Most of this isn't malicious, as far as I can tell, but just careless; I can put up with it, but it's a big source of stress to spend every day wondering what's going to be broken when I come home. The rent payment is helpful, but I can certainly do without it for several months.

Am I an awful person to kick her out for not following the rules in the lease, making her move when she's only here for a month more and when I was planning to have the room empty? It seems mean to throw her out when she's only going to be in this city for another month; it would be difficult to find another sublet for that term. Or am I a wuss for caving and letting her stay when I was so looking forward to having the house to myself, and when she has blatantly disregarded the terms of the lease? She's the kind of person who's used to getting her way about everything, and I have a perverse urge to break that.

more details at anon.mefi.landlord@gmail, if necessary

I want to have the freedom to rent out my room!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 19:16:21 -0800

I just leased a two bedroom apartment. I want to rent out the 2nd bedroom however I do not want whom ever I rent the room out to, to go on my lease. The lease I signed of course says that only I am permitted to live in the apartment (even though its a two bedroom). Do people routinely rent out their extra rooms without adding people to their lease? The lease has a clause that says each individual listed will be solely responsible for the rent (ie if one flakes out, the other is on the hook) this also obviously allows complete shared rights to the apartment and my reason for wanting to rent out the other room is because A) i wont have to do this for the entire duration of MY lease B) I may or may not end up liking the person who moves in (I of course would supply them with a fuill 30 day notice that it was not work) and C) the rent I am charging is on the lower end and I want people to have a sense of flexability in terms of how long they want to stay as an added bonus for why someone would want to rent the extra room (this would help to over come a few short comings of the apartment)
What are you thoughts on my two options
1) as the management company exactly how they would want me to do this (probably ad the person, etc etc etc) or
2) Just go ahead and rent out the 2nd room without informing the manager.

Thank you for your advice / input / personal experiences!

P.S This is all in DC. With what seems like a decent management company but for an apartment in a so so part of town.

I want my old rental rate back

missmle — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:39:01 -0800

Can I get my old rental rate back if my roommate moves? I signed a 1 year lease on an apartment in January. I got a roommate in March, and as part of the agreement my rent went up 10% and we had to sign a new lease with both of our names on it as well as the new rate. This new lease began the 1 year leasing period over from the date it was signed. Well, my roommate can no longer pay rent and has to move out. I plan to stay but was wondering if I can ask the leasing company to allow me to sign a new lease and get my old rental rate back. Do landlords usually do this? Also, am I going to suffer since my roommate has to leave and is therefore breaking his part of the lease? I can't find anything related directly to this in the leasing agreement.

Two Against One. Can We Drop Someone From Our Lease?

SansPoint — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 22:02:29 -0800

How do I/how hard is it to take someone off a lease? Okay, About two months ago, I moved into a 3 bedroom house with two friends I go to college with. All three of us signed the lease, and it was cosigned by my father, who put up the third required month's rent towards the security deposit.

One housemate, J, has been nothing but a pain with regards to financial issues. We had to cover his first month's rent, a pro-rated payment coming to slightly over half a regular month's rent, as he had no money left. Admittedly, he had been having trouble finding a job, though was employed at the time. He did not receive his first check until after the rent was due, but he did not offer anything he had. We threatened to take him to small claims court unless he paid us back^1..

When J paid me, and the housemate back for this payment, he did it exceedingly grudgingly, and said he would take out a loan to cover his remaining share. We agreed under the condition that he not throw fits over paying bills.

When I informed him of cable and gas bills that arrived two weeks ago, he said he did not get paid until that coming Sunday. I informed him the bills were not due for two weeks. He still complained about being TOLD of the bills existence. Similarly, when the second month's rent was due, he threw a fit when I asked him for a check, as the loan had not come in yet.

Ultimately, I had to embarrass him in front of a friend he had brought over on Saturday to get his $15 share of that cable bill, and get the $45 he owed me for the first cable bill, and a SEPTA Transpass I bought him to get to his summer class^2.. This, he had owed me, for nearly six weeks, even before the first month's rent was due.

He is leaving for California today, coming back August 1st, the day rent is due. I asked him to leave a post-dated check, and he exploded, calling his mother to get her to help him convince me to let him slide until his return, so he could pay all his remaining rent in one lump sum, as the loan he took out was delayed. He, essentially, accused me of extortion, even though this would be a post-dated check made out to the property managment company, not to me. Also, he left a threatening note to the other housemate, R, and I, causing R to fear for his life. Rather than live in a Demilitarized Zone, I told him that we're taking him off the lease ASAP.

So, first, do I have a case here? Secondly, I have contacted the property management people we are dealing with, and left a message explaining my situation: what can I expect to happen when I talk to them? Third, will I be able to take his person off the lease?

^1. We only did this because of his cavalier attitude. It felt like he wouldn't pay us back.

^2. A class he routinely showed up an hour late to—and failed, and then blamed me for it, saying he should never had taken the class by my suggestion.

Drafting a new roommate

pantheON — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 19:51:10 -0800

How hard is it to find a roommate in Toronto? I'd like to get an idea of difficult or easy it will be to find a roommate for August in downtown Toronto. I'll be moving to the core at the beginning of August. I could afford a single junior or small one bedroom in the $1100-$1300 range, but I'd prefer to save some money and live somewhere a bit larger. That's why I've decided to rent a two bedroom condo in the $1800 range and sublease the second bedroom. However, its almost July and I've exhausted my supply of potential roommates, meaning I'll have to live with a stranger. I'm wondering, will I have difficulty finding someone anyone to sign a lease or will there be so many applicants that I'll have my pick of the most compatible? How can I increase my chances of finding someone? I'd hate to get stuck paying the full rent, even for a month. The longer I go with an empty bedroom, the better it will have been for me to have gone for the 1 bedroom in the beginning. Is it too much to expect to find someone in the next month who'll be willing to sign a 1 year sublease?

But I WANT to sign the lease!

purplefiber — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:53:29 -0800

Can my new landlord leave me off the lease? I'm moving into a new apartment soon. The two people who currently live there (roommate A and B) have been in the apartment for two years. The first year they cosigned a year long lease, and since then they have been month to month.

Now roommate B is moving away and I am moving in. They checked this with the rental agency, to see if we'd have to do an application/credit check for me. The rental agency said no, that they would make roommate A the sole tenant, and I would be a subletter from her. So they don't need to check any background on me, but basically I would have no rights to the place. If roommate A decides to move, I would have to move as well, or be subject to any kind of rent increase they wish to impose.

I want to be on the lease, both for the stability of rent control in the event that roommate A decides to leave, and also for reasons of building good credit. Do I have the right to insist on getting my name on the lease? Roommate A agrees that it would be best for us both to be on it. If I am to bring this up with the rental agency, should I do it before moving in, or a few months down the road, once they see that I'm a good tenant, pay rent on time, etc? We are in California.

Any advice much appreciated.

Can my female roommate sublet to a guy without my approval?

almostmanda — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:41:44 -0800

My roommate wants to move out, and has found some random guy to sublease. I'm not comfortable living with Random Guy. What can I do to keep this from happening? My roommate and I live in an apartment complex where we each sign our own leases. There's over a hundred apartments in the building. They'll typically match you with same-sex roommates if you don't have someone in mind already, but I'm pretty sure they will rent to opposite sex pairs and small families.

My lease was due to end in May, but I extended it to mid-August so I could hang around over the summer and get my bearings after I graduate. Her lease runs through August, but she wants to move somewhere else after graduating. Yesterday, she approached me and said "I found a subleaser! Do you want to meet him?!"

I like to think that I'm a fairly liberal, open-minded person (yeah, yeah, that's a red flag, I know), but the idea of living with a guy I don't know beforehand squicks me out more than a little. I'm just not comfortable with it. This thought apparently has not entered her head, but I was obviously not pleased when she was telling me.

I'm pretty confident that the apartment managers will be happy to let him take over her lease, but live in a different apartment (since they're college apartments, they tend to be pretty empty over the summer). Just in case, though, is there any legal backing to my stance? I can't imagine, with the religious right being what it is in mid-America, that one could be forced to live with someone of the opposite sex in order to run out their lease. Aside from that, is there anything else I could do to keep Random Dude out of my apartment? I'm not particularly religious, but I'm not above claiming to be to keep it from happening.

How do I not lose my apartment?

The Great Big Mulp — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 09:57:11 -0800

Last Thursday, my roommate told me he is moving out at the end of the month. What should I do? Now, the apartment is cheap, but it's a shithole in a bad part of town and is swarming with cockroaches, so I'm not getting much communication from people looking for a place to live. And I certainly can't afford the whole place on my own, as I am currently unemployed.

Anyway, I brought this issue up to the rental office, because both of us have separate leases, and he would have to give them at least 30 days notice before he moves. However, they lost their copy of the lease they have with him and could only find the lease they have with me. Furthermore, the lease they have with me was filled out while I was the only person living in this apartment, so it lists my rent at $660/mo as opposed to $330/mo.

Has anyone else been in this situation before? And, if so, is there any legal recourse I have, or am I just basically fucked? Oh! I'm in the state of RI.