Grrzzlybear
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- New York
My exroomate of 3 years contacted me and is threatening to take me to small claims court over his personal estimate that I owe him $4000 in back rent and other random expenses.
The lease was in his and his brothers names and was a standard month to month, but my name was never added and his brother's name was never taken off.
I was responsible for less than half of the bills as I primarily occupied only my bedroom. I had a few rough patches where I was not making any money, I was a server, and he let me slide on the rent more than once. We never had a formal rental agreement. We never set up anything to pay him back the times he let me slide, him stating more than once that it was fine and he just wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself. At the time we were very close friends.
He told me he was ending the lease at the end of month z and that was with one week left in the prior month. So I had 5 weeks. Reasonable. With no actual lease agreement this was within what im aware of as a legal time frame. I was out in 3 days anyway. I also cleaned the room I was in doing everything except shampooing the rugs. I had no pets.
He has given me 2 weeks to make a payment plan with him or he will take me to small claims court and have my wages garnished. I have only just returned to work after being unemployed due to covid.
I'm clearly not well versed in any law. And I don't want things to end badly for me. How do I handle this legally and what are my options?
The lease was in his and his brothers names and was a standard month to month, but my name was never added and his brother's name was never taken off.
I was responsible for less than half of the bills as I primarily occupied only my bedroom. I had a few rough patches where I was not making any money, I was a server, and he let me slide on the rent more than once. We never had a formal rental agreement. We never set up anything to pay him back the times he let me slide, him stating more than once that it was fine and he just wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself. At the time we were very close friends.
He told me he was ending the lease at the end of month z and that was with one week left in the prior month. So I had 5 weeks. Reasonable. With no actual lease agreement this was within what im aware of as a legal time frame. I was out in 3 days anyway. I also cleaned the room I was in doing everything except shampooing the rugs. I had no pets.
He has given me 2 weeks to make a payment plan with him or he will take me to small claims court and have my wages garnished. I have only just returned to work after being unemployed due to covid.
I'm clearly not well versed in any law. And I don't want things to end badly for me. How do I handle this legally and what are my options?