verbal lease

[jwerner]

we rent a house in new york state, my roomate had a verbal agreement with our landlord before I moved in. we have lived here well over a year and I read that verbal agreements cant be legally enforced after one year. what concerns me is they are saying he owes them a months rent (for not giving 30 day notice), the money it costs to fill and oil tank for the furnace( because they filled it when we moved in), and back rent(that was owed by a roomate that moved out and didnt pay). there was never any written contract for any of this, only a verbal agreement when he moved in. now that we told them we are all moving out, they expect him to pay all this money, or do work on the house to pay it off. they threatenned to take him to small claims court. would he be liable to pay anything at all?

 

[mike]

we rent a house in new york state, my roomate had a verbal agreement with our landlord before I moved in. we have lived here well over a year and I read that verbal agreements cant be legally enforced after one year. what concerns me is they are saying he owes them a months rent (for not giving 30 day notice), the money it costs to fill and oil tank for the furnace( because they filled it when we moved in), and back rent(that was owed by a roomate that moved out and didnt pay). there was never any written contract for any of this, only a verbal agreement when he moved in. now that we told them we are all moving out, they expect him to pay all this money, or do work on the house to pay it off. they threatenned to take him to small claims court. would he be liable to pay anything at all?

The statute of frauds states that leases that cannot be performed within one year are not enforceable. Since your agreement was month to month, verbal is fine. The law states that for a month to month tenancy you have to give one month's notice prior to moving out. If the landlord filled the oil tank, you wouldn't be responsible for the entire amount but only for the amount you used if this was the agreement that you pay for this. If you had a roomate as well, he may not be able to sue you for that amount since there is no lease that states that you agreed to be jointly bound and that this was not a separate agreement between landlord and other tenant -- at least that is what I will argue. What you may want to do is settle to pay for the one month's rent but that is all -- and I would definitely get that agreement in writing and, if he doesn't provide that to you, send the check certified return receipt with a letter documenting a conversation that you may have had. Make sure to keep a copy of that letter just in case.