Room mate is moving out before our lease is up.?

Question

We moved in last September 2006 and signed a one year lease. My friend just informed me she's leaving on June 1, 2007. Can she just leave me with the lease? Can I take her to small claims court?

Answer 1

I am going to assume that both of you signed the lease. If this is the case, first you need to go talk to your landlord or property manager and let them know she is leaving.

Unfortunately, in most cases both parties (you and your roommate) are equally responsible for the lease. There are three options here.

Option 1: When she leaves, you leave too. Of course, this is the most expensive and the most damaging option. You will have to pay a termination fee for breaking your lease, usually it's 1 months' rent but it depends on the lease - you could be liable for the entire lease. Also, you need to give Notice to Vacate in writing to your landlord. If your NTV is only 30 days, you have until Monday to give it.

Option 2: With your roommate, go to the property manager and let them know she is moving out on June 1st. She needs to be legally removed from the lease by signing something stating that as of June 1st she is no longer on the lease and has no rights to any money coming back to you (like the deposit at the end of your lease) and also isn't responsible for any money due (as in your rent) from June 1st forward. Then you will be on the lease by yourself and can make all the decisions going forward, like finding another roommate. If you find another roommate, you can add her legally to the lease and then you'll be fine. Start now and find someone to replace her. There are lots of sites like roommates.com or your local paper where you can find someone, or you can put an ad on Craiglist.com. Of course, there's one hitch - you may not qualify to live there on your own income during the interim, and that will be a problem. Your landlord or management company may not permit her to leave because of this, and that's a whole 'nother ballgame.

Option 3: Find someone to take over your lease completely, so you can both move out and someone will take over. You need to do this through your landlord though, so I'd talk to them first. Most management companies will not allow you to sublet - that is, you can't just move someone in and move out, and have them pay you the rent that you will then pay to the landlord. Besides, you don't want to do that anyway, if the person you sublet to doesn't pay you, you can't pay, and guess who is going to be held responsible? You.

As for taking her to small claims court, yes, you can do that. But that could take months and it's not going to help you in the meantime. If you do end up leaving, she'll be responsible for half the rent for the months you had to pay, any fees, termination costs, final utility charges and anything you get charged for after move out, such as cleaning or damages. But it's going to go on your credit report if your landlord sends you to collections and that won't come off no matter what small claims says.

Be careful of who you take as a roommate next time. Better yet, get a place of your own and you won't have this problem. I know it's not easy on your own, but at least you don't have to deal with this kind of thing.

Good luck....

Answer 2

Unfortunately, you are both responsible for the rent independantly.

You could take her to small claims if you wanted to... and you might be able to get a judgement against her, if you two have an agreement in writing.

She needs to pay the cost to break the lease. Did you talk to her about it?

Answer 3

Old saying "the devil is in the details" . . .
Is her name on the lease ? Did she sign it ?
If she signed then she is legally liable until sept to pay or get in another roommate .
If you were the only one named , then you are liable and would have to arrange for another short term roommate .

Answer 4

if her name is on the lease then she is responsible for it.

you can indeed take her to court if she refuses to pay the terms of the lease.