Roomate My roomate moved out without saying anything didnt sign a lease

[Guest]

Here is my issue, I rented a room out in my house that I own, or I am paying for. My self and him and my other roommate sat and talked about it and he was told in the conversation that the term was a 6 month Lease. after about a month He told me he was moving out early about 2 months and week in to the lease. He had signed a lease yet. Because he had I told him that was fine but he agreed that he would stay until a week in to his 2d month. which would basically give me a month to show the room and advertise it for potential renters. He never signed a lease (mistake and procrastination on my part.) but he gave me a check for a month and half of the deposit. less than a month later he tells me he has moved out. Never turned in his key left the room looking like crap. what are my options?
thanks for your help.

 

[army judge]

Your options are two: you can sue him in small claims, assuming you can find him to be served, or you can ignore it, let it go.

Renting rooms in your home to strangers or friends is a very risky endeavor. Your renter could be a psychotic serial murderer, a thief, a rapist, a drug abuser, a pervert, or worse. Plus, most room renters have poor credit, making them unable to rent their own home.

Renting to people that are financially irresponsible is very foolish.

If you continue to persist in this risky behavior, I suggest you put your affairs in order and create a will.
Seriously, the little extra income isn't worth the massive and dangerous risks you will encounter.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Army judge's advice is good. Going to small claims court trying to win by having the court make sense of an oral lease agreement can be extremely difficult. And it will be even more challenging if this person is a stranger whose new address may be unknown to you. If you haven't spoken, it's clear he's probably not interested in paying. As you've had time to mitigate damages, chances aren't great that you'd win in small claims court. Consider this a relatively small lesson learned.

 

[Kendra]

I had a roommate who is not on my lease and has DISPUTED the money she has paid for the past few months! She and her son lived there the entire time but now, out of spite, she has disputed the transactions she submitted herself with my leasing office and the money was returned to her account. I am now being held responsible for the almost $5,000 balance because the lease is in my name. Do I have a chance at sueing and winning in small claims court?

 

[army judge]

I had a roommate who is not on my lease and has DISPUTED the money she has paid for the past few months! She and her son lived there the entire time but now, out of spite, she has disputed the transactions she submitted herself with my leasing office and the money was returned to her account. I am now being held responsible for the almost $5,000 balance because the lease is in my name. Do I have a chance at sueing and winning in small claims court?

Anyone is always able to bring a legal dispute to a small claims court.

Even IF your odds of prevailing were 100%, that means NOTHING.
Why?
If you were to prevail and the court awarded you a judgment of $5,000, you'd then have to chase this deadbeat to collect it.
Plaintiffs collect in fewer than 5% of such cases.
Your only hope for a 100% payout is if your case were selected for one of the TV legal shows.


The lesson here is NEVER allow ANYONE to stay in YOUR home.
If you want to help a person in distress, offer to GIFT them two or three nights in a local hotel.
If you decide to do that, give them the money.
Don't allow them to charge the hotel bill using YOUR credit card.

My closing comment, the person that stayed in your home wasn't a roommate.
She was a deadbeat.
Don't allow that to ever happen to you again.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I don't understand. The leasing office returned the money paid by the tenant and is now seeking to sue you for the entire balance? How was the money paid to your leasing office? Did they know you were subletting part of the apartment? Technically you are responsible for the entire amount of the lease. That's not to say that a court won't rule in your favor. I just don't know all the facts and the assumption is you're not in a great position (especially since most leases usually do not allow an apartment to be sublet.)

 

[Betty3]

If you are the only one on the lease, you most likely are responsible for any rent due. It "seems like" you are asking if you can sue your roommate for the disputed rent - you can "try". As army judge noted though, even if you win there is the problem of collecting the judgment.