I along with someone my wife knew signed a 1 year rental agreement for a townhouse. There were originally two other roomates who paid rent for which it was verbally agreed that my wife and I would handle one while the other person would handle the other. Now because of a poor relationship between my wife and the person who signed the contract with me, that person wishes to back out and wrote to us saying that she will not be paying rent anymore and that we should just apply the security deposit(2.5 months worth which the landlord has) to the remaining rent(4 months left). My question is what can i do so that she continues to pay as she is supposed to be and have it where we don't get evicted? There are other concerns such as her name being on some of the utilities and the cost associated with having to reactivate them? What can I do about those. Does this have to go to court to be settled? I do not wish to left homeless. How about my credit report, how will that be affected?
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Consumer Law, Warranties breach of rental agreement
- Thread Starter igal
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Unfortunately, co-signors of a lease can each be held responsible for the entire amount of the lease. However, the landlord cannot sue both for the entire amount although he can sue either party for the entire amount of the lease.
You may want to send a demand letter, certified return receipt, to the co-signor of the lease. You may want to state that they are a co-signor of the lease and have the full responsibility to make rental payments each month. Additionally, you might want to state that as the security deposit is not in your possession or at your disposal and may not likely be returned to you, their refusal to pay rent and substitute the security deposit for rent is completely unacceptable. They will be responsible each month for the rent owed, plus interest if necessary, including any court costs, reasonable attorneys fees, punitive damages, etc. However, it is always a good idea to say that you'd like for the parting of ways to be amicable and not come to this.
Did she shut off the utilities? If she did, then you should also hold her liable for the same and that you will sue in the event that the utilities are canceled and not transferred to your name.
You may want to send a demand letter, certified return receipt, to the co-signor of the lease. You may want to state that they are a co-signor of the lease and have the full responsibility to make rental payments each month. Additionally, you might want to state that as the security deposit is not in your possession or at your disposal and may not likely be returned to you, their refusal to pay rent and substitute the security deposit for rent is completely unacceptable. They will be responsible each month for the rent owed, plus interest if necessary, including any court costs, reasonable attorneys fees, punitive damages, etc. However, it is always a good idea to say that you'd like for the parting of ways to be amicable and not come to this.
Did she shut off the utilities? If she did, then you should also hold her liable for the same and that you will sue in the event that the utilities are canceled and not transferred to your name.
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