Tenant vs Tenant

[Benjaminallen]

i can not get out of my lease because they say i got to find a roomate i found at least 5 they do not want them because they are hyspanic and now they are suing me for not paying for two months rent.

The first week one of them moved in he kicked me out of my room. I told him to pay the rent for the month he moved in he refused. I told 2 of them that I was leaving in about 3 months I had 5 people to move in roommate 1 said it would be to crowded. 3 wks before I was ready to leave I found another roomate they refused they said where would he sleep I told them I would sleep on the couch. He refused. I got the lease they were suppose to sign me out of it and they kept ripping it up. I found 3 more roommates and they were not americans he refused. I left in Dec I had a roomate ready to move in the office said to leave that everything was ok I even paid for the month of Dec I was only there 1/2 of month. In Jan I called everything and roomate 2 said he moved in and signed the lease for 6 months and the office said it was ok. Then in Feb I called and found out he never moved in because the room was to smokie and they would have to go outside and smoke because he had ashma and I also believe it is because roommate 1 didn't like him because he was not american. Now roomate 1 father is sueing me for not paying the rent for Jan and Feb plus I am on the lease till Aug is there anything I can do to get out of the lease or with this situation?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

It was difficult to understand your post but it sounds like you are a co-signor of a lease with other roomates. Without a roomate agreement and specific agreement with your landlord in the lease, you may have a very difficult problem in trying to replace yourself as a roomate/tenant. You are liable for your portion of the rent and can also be sued by the landlord for the entire amount of the rent if the lease is a standard lease with co-signors where you might be "jointly" (all) and "severally" (seperately) liable for the entire amount of the lease.

Your choices would be to sue all the proposed roomates who may have reneged on their deals with you. Your likelihood of success seems small.

You are liable to pay your rent and it would be likely your roomates would not want to release you from the liability of having the monthly rent paid. After all, they know you but do they know any of the other people you want to substitute for yourself? Why should they take the risk that some person that you may find off the street, regardless of race, color or creed, may choose to pay or not to pay? There is no good reason they should without more, e.g. the unknown roomate put up money in advance and their agreement to release you from liability as a roomate.

This still might not change your liability to the landlord, who might be able to sue you personally for rent being unpaid. The landlord would also have to agree to release you from liability as a co-signor of the lease and replace you with the new, proposed tenant.

 

[Benjaminallen]

I was at school and got a list of roomates to move in from the school of people that were also going to school. They were not just off the street. I told them I was done with school I even told the office I was done in 3 months I tried to find them many roomates and they refused. roomate 1 his grandfather is a lawyer and they refused the other roomate said he would sign me out but roomate 1 talked him out of it. I was there for a year before this and I had to find my own roomates to move in after the other 3 left and were done with school one roomate even left 4 months early and didn't pay me. I was responsible. Does this matter I am on the lease with 2 roomates and my mother is my co signer the last roomate is on his own lease. Why am I responsible to find them a roomate if they always refuse them and have no phone and they don't work and were going to get eveicted because they didn't have enough money to pay the rent and they say it is all my fault. I found them many roomates I worked myself into a nervouse wreck.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. However, as you see, you should not put yourself in a position of liability all the time. Having the other roomate have his own lease is a good way to avoid the liability.

With regards to the "off the street" comment, the point is that nobody knows them. Just being in school with you doesn't make them any more reliable nor do these other people know them personally so that they will agree to let you off the lease. That said, it still doesn't mean that roomate #1's grandfather isn't being a jerk about the entire situation and simply wants to stick you responsibility because it is protection for him.

That said, some of the roomates you did get were not responsible. I'm not so sure that I'd feel altogether comfortable either unless I knew something substantial about these other roomates you propose, e.g. they have had a good job for a long time or that their father was willing to sign as a guarantor. The fact that your mother is a guarantor seems to provide these other roomates with a very low risk that they won't get the rent -- you cannot provide alternates that will create a greater risk of nonpayment than you are.

 

[Benjaminallen]

thanks for your help.