UGHHH! So i just spent 30 min typing something up and it didnt go thru so heres a sweet and short way of asking!

Signed a YEAR lease with someone last september. They moved out in November because of his dogs. When we moved in he put the utilites under his name WITHOUT ME KNOWING and in November when he moved out he had his mail forwarded to his house. I asked him to get off my lease ASAP but he didnt get to it until early March. Since the bills were in his name they were sent to his new house. This march i recieved a letter saying our utility bill was 800 and that we had a court date to tend to to resolve the issue. When i went to court aparantely i wasnt suppose to be there b/c the bills were under HIS name. The notice also said that my March rent wasnt going to be accepted until the full 800 was paid. Since he is a dip he talked to the property management asking if he could do payment plan and they refused. So basically it was now my resposibility to help him come up with 800. Even tho we are both on the lease, i have been paying the full 1200 for rent each month because i loved my house, and i didnt want to ruin my credit by signing out of a lease and honestly i didnt have time to find another place and move once again . Being that i dish out 1200 each month, i worked hard to get the 800 but then i wouldnt have made my april rent on time so i was gonna be evicted if i didnt have the total amount due. April 3rd at Noon management came in a took all of my stuff and put it out on the curb. My luck, it started to snow and rain so all of my things are starting to get ruined which forced me to call a moving compnay and pay them to take it to storage which ended up being 700 dollars; for movers and 1 month in storage.
I'm taking my ex roommate to small claims for his half of Dec-March rent even thou he didnt live there but we were BOTH ON THE LEASE and im sick of being nice to him and letting him slide by because in the end im the one homeless and evicted from my home. Does the law state anywehre that he is going to have to pay me that half?
And also, since i was the one in the apartment from Dec till April i am responsible for utilities but being that he didnt sign himself off the lease when i asked him, they are still under his name. And because of that, i got evicted. Who is responsible for paying the 800 now?
And finally , when i take him to small claims, are ther any other fees or ways i can get moeny out of him? I.E. MOVING FEES LIKE TRUCKER AND STORAGE?

JudyKayTee

If this is the short version I'd hate to see the long version -

Anyway - if you are both on the lease you are responsible for the rent. It's not a half and half proposition. You are each 100% responsible if the other doesn't pay.

As far as the utilities - I don't know how you're responsible for paying the bill when it's not in your name. I'm speaking legally, not morally. I'm a little confused that you never knew the utilities were not in your name but with a roommate situation that's not unusual. No utility company is going to put them in both names.

If you got a legal eviction notice because you didn't keep the rent current it is not the fault of your roommate. If your things were put out on the street - and the eviction was legal - it's because you were told to get out and did not. You could have found a replacement roommate at some point and that will be your ex-roommate's argument. Both of you have to be reasonable.

I know you say you just didn't have the time to find another place but it looks, in retrospect, like you should have.

Sue for whatever you want in Small Claims Court and see what the Judge says - I just don't think you're going to win some of this.

ScottGem

This is very confusing. The management company can't just put you out without a legal eviction order. If they obtained such an order, then there had to be a hearing when you were given the opportunity to bring your rent up to date and plead your case. So I think there is more to this than you are relating.

If your roommate moved out, why didn't you get a new roommate? And why didn't you wonder how the utilities were being paid? I'm not sure how much of a case you will have since it appears you made a lot of mistakes on your own and let this get to the point where it is. It appears you could have headed this off before it got to this point.

CUgirl

Legally, the management evicted me legitimately. i recieved a notice about the utility bill probably the last week of March and then was told my eviction date was april 3rd so i knew when my deadline was. When i talked to my ex roommate he said he was recieving unemployment any day now and that he would be able to help pay for that. From our history tho i didnt count much on him so i went out and did little jobs that would help me earn some money. As far as finding another roommate to take his place, i wasnt able to have anyone else on the lease until he signed himself off.

I understand that we are both 100% responisible for the rent thats why i have been paying the 1200 each month and if i didnt have to pay the 800 for utilities all at once i would still be in my apartment.

JudyKayTee

I'm confused about the utilities - if they were in your roommate's name, why didn't you just let them get turned off and then have them turned back on in your individual name?

(By the way - congratulations! You are one of the few who post who gave the facts the first time, backed them up the second, admitted to service/legal eviction. I'm sure it doesn't help you any but I'm impressed.)

CUgirl

Honestly, i had no idea that they werent getting paid until i FINALLY recieved a bill on my garage stating that my march rent wasnt going to be accepted until the outstanding balance of 800 was paid. The utility company is provided by the Management, its not a seperate company like excel. The lady i spoke with about the bill informed me that she had been calling my ex roommate each month and left messages asking for a return call but he never recieved one. I updated her that he hasnt been living there since Nov and Then when i asked her why no one tried to contact me being that my name was also on the lease she tried to turn it around and say i should of had him off my lease when he moved out. If i had done that, i would have switched utilities to my name and this wouldnt be an issue. In response, I informed her that when he moved out i called management to get him off my lease and the only way i was able to do that was with him going in first to sign thepaper work, which he didnt do until march.

In reality, it doesnt matter what i could have done, because its already done with. I'm evicted. The question is: what can I do about it now?


1. Can i sue for moving expenses such as the truck fees and storage?
2. Yes i agree that we are both responsible for 100% of the rent. I have bank statements each month showing a payment of 1200, except the first two months where we both submitted 2 different checks each for 600. This should be some type of "evidence" that we were splitting rent in half. Am i able to use that in small claims to collect his half of each months rent?
3. I wasnt able to find another roommate to take his place because "subletting" is illegal unless its done thru management. So i couldnt do anything until his name was off the lease.
4. This is the last one i promise ... Can i do anything about getting the eviction off my credit? I'm young and beautiful (just kidding) But really i am young and to have an eviction on my credit is disgusting.
any other advice?

ScottGem

1. You can sue your ex roommate, but not the management company
2. Yes, your proof that you paid the rent in full is fine.
3. Since he procrastinated in getting himself off the lease, thereby preventing you from getting a roommate and since he didn't inform you about the utilities, then he has liability there.
4. Since the eviction was legitimate, no

CUgirl

Thanks scottgem. I appreciate all your time! you were very helpful