Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
Re: Ok, time for the big guns!
"Breaking the lease" is not easy. You can't just go to the landlord and say "sorry, we're out". The lease is a legally binding contract and if either of you break any of the terms on the lease, it's the landlord who has the right to sue you for the amount of rent (plus any damages incurred) during the period of the lease.
Most leases are pretty simple in that you can have up to four people sign. This is a bit misleading though b/c that does NOT mean that every person who signs the lease is obligated to pay the landlord. If one, or two, or three people leave, whoever is left is responsible for paying rent in the full amount. However, having others on the lease who bail might help you (or whoever's left) if you had to sue them for part of the rent b/c the landlord sued you.
Housemates/roommates can really suck when it comes down to this stuff. I've learned the hard way that it's best to get everything out on the table, so to speak, right away. Whenever a new girl moves into our house, we make it crystal clear that between US (not the landlord), she is ultimately responsible for her rent and fraction of the utilities when her name is on the lease. This includes summer AND any study time abroad. By now, everyone in my house has spent at least a month abroad and we've all still had to pay for our rent and utilities. It sucks, but if that's the arrangement that everyone agrees to, it's the easiest and most fair.
Did you have any written or verbal agreement about what would happen if someone wanted to leave, or how the utilities are paid?
I guess in summary, your roommate is not legally obligated to pay you or the landlord. If it came down to legal action, your landlord would sue you for rent and you could turn around and try to sue your roommate.
clarityat3am said:Ok, here's the deal. Last night my roommate came home and told me that apartment complex had called her and told her the girl that had applied to be my new roommate had decided not to go through with it. This is ok, I'd talked to her before. So I told my roommate that was my only prospect at the moment. She then went into this super bitch tirade about how she hated it here and she wasn't going to stay and a bunch of other shit and that "bottom line" we had to find someone or we'd have to break the lease. She was thoroughly nasty to me about it. Um...what? I'm not the one who decided to leave in a month and what the fuck? I'm already looking for a new roommate and there's no way I'm going to break the lease for this bitch. She sure as hell would pay for everything if that happened anyway. Where exactly can I find information about what she's legally obligated to do for me? I'm not going to screw around with her and be nice if she's going to be like this to me.
"Breaking the lease" is not easy. You can't just go to the landlord and say "sorry, we're out". The lease is a legally binding contract and if either of you break any of the terms on the lease, it's the landlord who has the right to sue you for the amount of rent (plus any damages incurred) during the period of the lease.
Most leases are pretty simple in that you can have up to four people sign. This is a bit misleading though b/c that does NOT mean that every person who signs the lease is obligated to pay the landlord. If one, or two, or three people leave, whoever is left is responsible for paying rent in the full amount. However, having others on the lease who bail might help you (or whoever's left) if you had to sue them for part of the rent b/c the landlord sued you.
Housemates/roommates can really suck when it comes down to this stuff. I've learned the hard way that it's best to get everything out on the table, so to speak, right away. Whenever a new girl moves into our house, we make it crystal clear that between US (not the landlord), she is ultimately responsible for her rent and fraction of the utilities when her name is on the lease. This includes summer AND any study time abroad. By now, everyone in my house has spent at least a month abroad and we've all still had to pay for our rent and utilities. It sucks, but if that's the arrangement that everyone agrees to, it's the easiest and most fair.
Did you have any written or verbal agreement about what would happen if someone wanted to leave, or how the utilities are paid?
I guess in summary, your roommate is not legally obligated to pay you or the landlord. If it came down to legal action, your landlord would sue you for rent and you could turn around and try to sue your roommate.
We never did this and she really blindsided me when she did this. I don't want to break the lease and I don't intend to. I just sent an email to a lawyer to find out what kind of options I have. I was going to talk to her about paying until I had found a suitable roommate, but then she turned into mega bitch on me last night and I just didn't even know what to say to her. 
and my roommate doesn't seem to want to talk anyway, I wrote a letter to her telling her what I'm doing and what I expect of her. I think that should be effective to at least get her to talk to me. I hope this works. 
