Consumer Law, Warranties verbal contract

[pstoddard]

In May 2000 I bought a condo. My boyfriend at the time (who I'd been living with for several years) moved in with me and agreed to pay rent to me. I also received rent from a second roommate, to help cover costs of the mortgage. By November that same year, the relationship had deteriorated, and in December while overseas for Xmas, we parted company and I heard nothing more from him. By December 29th he had returned to the US and moved out without telling me (I found out from the other roommate, as I did not return until Jan 3).

He didn't pay December rent at the beginning of the month, and foolishly in the interest of preserving the relationship I didn't ask him about it until the middle of the month. He reported that he was short on money and would get me the rent as soon as possible. When I finally tracked him down in the new year, he contended that he doesn't owe December's rent as he didn't actually stay there the full month.

I believe that we had a verbal contract, one that he validated by paying me regularly for 7 months at the beginning of each month (just as he regularly paid his share of the rent when we rented from a commercial landlord), and so set a precedent for me to reasonably expect payment at the beginning of the month of December (things were awkward between us, but we had not split up or discussed splitting up until it actually happened just before Christmas). He never notified me of his intent to leave and his stuff was still in the apartment until virtually the end of the month.

Is it justifiable to expect this money? (I realize that getting it could be another issue). Or does his absense consitute "intent" to leave, which means I should have known the contract was broken? (never mind that I wasn't there to know he was gone).

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect that the ex will pay up, but I think you have a very good case to recover that least that month's rent in court. It seems that you had a month to month agreement with your ex and the law presumes that this is the case in the absence of another agreement. If so, he would have to give you 30 days notice of his moving out or deal with the consequences of being responsible for 30 days rent. In fact, you might be able to sue him for two month's rent since the rent was due on a certain day of the month and he did not provide you with notice prior to the following month's rent requirement kicking in.

Much depends upon the state you are in but you may wish to sue him in small claims court and tell him you will do so unless he stops the foolishness and pays the full month's rent. After all, what did he expect? That you would simply find a roomate on the spot? The law understands that finding a roomate is not like ordering a pizza so that reasonable notice when leaving such a situation is required and your ex did not provide such reasonable notice.