can i sue ex roommate for not paying me rent?

Question

my roommate lost his job and i covered his rent so my credit would not go bad and now he will not pay me over $7000 can i sue him in court?

Answer 1

Yup.

Answer 2

Yes yes and yes!! I know this from experience. I did this to someone. You have to first contact the Magisterial court office for either the township that your roommate resides in currently, or the township that the "event" took place(aka the township that the shared apartment is located in). Do this asap! You only have a certain amount of time(known as the statute of limitations, or SOL) to file a judgment. In PA, the SOL is 3yrs, but 4yrs for anything involving a contract(an apartment lease counts here, as long as both of you are on the lease). You file a report with small claims court, and you pay the court fees upfront. Like the SOL, court fees vary from state to state. Pay extra to have a constable deliver the paperwork to your roommate, so that you have a "guarantee" that he received it; then if he blows off court, you will be able to get a judgment against him "by default."

If both of you are on the lease as tenants, then you will probably be able to sue for half of the rent payments for the X-amount of time that you paid the rent by yourself...basically you'll be suing for his share. If you and your roommate had originally agreed that your roommate would pay a larger share(for example, so that he could have the master bedroom), you probably will only be able to sue for an equal half, unless you have evidence and documents to support your case. For example, any written documents b/t you and your roommate will suffice nicely.

When you get to court, make sure you have all your documents and evidence ready! Document, document, document! You need black-and-white hard evidence, with numbers and facts and figures. Good documents to bring would include: a copy of the apartment lease, cancelled checks or receipts showing your rent payments, and any possible I.O.U. notes or anything of that sort that perhaps your roommate gave you. If you win(which you should, provided that you have documents and you don't lose your cool in court), you will be awarded the full amount of the judgment(or whatever the judge decides, which should cover the guy's amount) + court fees(reimbursement). If the guy doesn't start to pay within 30days, then you can go to the Magistry again and file paperwork so that his wages are garnished until the judgment is paid back. Remember, he can always dodge paying you, or purposely avoid working a taxable job or buying any valuable possessions(cars, property, etc) just so that he can avoid paying you...but he will still get punished, because the judgment will stay on his credit report for 7-10yrs and cause him some h*ll by ruining his credit. Plus, at least you'll feel dignified that you stood up for yourself. Good luck!

Answer 3

yes. you can and should sue him.

but, you need to cover all the bases.

was this roommate on the original lease or was he a sublet?

did you have a contract or any written indication of his portion of the rent?

do you have copies of paid receipts for rent indicating who paid what?

while it will be difficult to prove if you have no paperwork to back you up, it is not impossible. sometimes people are even willing to avoid the embarrasment and time for a lengthy court session and the threat of litigation is enough to make them pay.

seek legal counsel. if you can't pay for it, call legal aid in your area and they should be able to help you find an attorney for free.

good luck!

Answer 4

To be honest, most people are going to have a hard time believing that you are such a nice guy that you paid $7,000 of someone elses rent rather than file to evict your non-paying roommate.

Many people would cover their roommate for one month. When it get to two months, most normal people would do something to protect themselves, such as evict their non-paying roommate and get a paying one.

You certainly can sue for any rent owed, but from professional experience ... every person I have ever seen who made a wild claim that someone owed them sooooo much back rent had something else going on there too.

Answer 5

if he is on the lease then definately yes!!