Have not moved in, nor paid

Your roommate is acting in the capacity of a landlord. You signed a contract and are liable to damages incurred to the contract holder. In this case it would be loss of rent. Unless there is an out in the contract I would say that since the contract is for a month to month period, you would be liable for 990.00 I am assuming that the contract has a 30 day notice stipulation that you would be moving. You may be able to get out of the lease entirely if you can find someone that meets the landlord and the roommates rental criteria. Another approach might be to negotiate a lump sum payment to the roommate and have her sign a release from the contract. Finally, if you can find something in the lease or in the apartment that would make your moving in a hazard to your health, or a possible problem with privacy, such as no doors to your room, then you can fight it in court and possibly win. I would recomment that you negotiate an end to the rental agreement as it would put money in her pocket and she can start looking for another roommate.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Yes, she can sue you...but anyone can sue anyone for anything...but the fact that you did not take posession will be a big factor.

I doubt very much she will pay an attorney to sue you in an iffy case...and even if she contacts an attorney, I think he'd tell her that she doesn't have a case.

Let us know how it goes.

I have to agree with Brooks and mostly disagree with Rick. You signed the lease. It matters not that it was a sublease, you entered into a legal contract and are now talking about breaching that contract.

Whether she decides to pursue legal remedies or not is up to her. She can use small claims court to avoid hiring an attorney. The fact that you didn't move in is not going to have a great deal of weight. The only legal issue is the terms of the lease. I would try to settle with her for one month's rent.

Excellent points added above.

In my state posession is "9/10ths of the law", but of course the way magistrates and judges view things can vary - unless there is precedence.

Since the lease was month to month that means that you could have gone through with it and given your notice to move the same day...leaving the "landlord" netting only one month's rent...so if you do try to settle, then try to settle for less than that.

Hello Green:

Consider consideration.

Consideration is the glue that binds a contract. Without consideration, there's no contract. Consideration confirms that there was a "meeting of the minds". Without a meeting of the minds, there's no contract.

You did not pay consideration. Had you paid any money toward rent or your deposit, THAT would be consideration. You didn't. You paid an application fee.

Therefore, I suggest that no contract was entered into, and you don't owe a dime.

excon

I have to disagree with excon. There are two parts to the consideration of a contract. On your part you received the promise of a place to live. That place to live was ready for you to move into today. Therefore, the other party upheld her part of the contract. By holding the space for you, she was unable to rent it to someone else, thereby suffering a loss.

The fact that you hadn't paid anything yet does not absolve you from the terms of the contract.

I have to agree with Brooks and Scottgem. You signed a contract so you can be held to that contract. The good news is that you can give her 30 days notice today and get out of this by paying only one month of rent.

The only way I can think of that you can get out of this is if the written lease between the landlord and this roommate prohibits sublets. Then her proposed agreement with you would be in violation of the written lease and you would be able to walk away.

Greenducky, note that this is the opinion of an attorney

Well I will go against the flow here ( of course that is why there are layers and law suits, both sides believe they can show their side in court.

First you paid an application fee ( this was not a binding document) and the money paid was to do background checks, credit checks and for the paperwork involved. * I will note that I doubt she did any of those things but merely charged one because she could*

She would be subletting part of her apartment, I would first check with the apartment manager and see if this was legal for her to do under her lease. Some leases allow subletting, others do not. If her lease did not allow her to do this, then this would be an illegal offer and not inforceable.

Next does your recept for the money you paid her say for application fee ? If not she could try and say this was money to "hold" the apartment.

Also it could be argued that your signing the application and giving her the signed lease was an offer made, and she accepted that offer and since you paid the fee it was consideration.

But of course the other side, which I would hold, is that the fee was merely to check background, and that the actual contract (lease) was an offer they made after they checked your background, you indeed accepted that offer by signing the contract but never paid any consideration on that contract.
You never acted upon it.

Now her side can also state that since she had your signed contract that she then acted upon it in good faith, thus stopping her add and that to re-rent the apartment she would have to have to pay money out for new adds and the such. And that this loss and her actions did constitute consideration.

Then it will be up to a judge to decide under your state comsumer laws if a true contract was formed. * remember just signing the paper does not a contract make normally it is those actions that go along with that contract.

Now the next idea, will she really sue, she is not the apartment manager merely going to sublet, so will sue sue for one months rent ( since it was going to be on a month to month basis, if you gave notice to move out on the first day you moved in, all you would owe would be one month. So at the end of that month, she would owe you the deposit and since you would have paid two months rent (first and last) but only stayed one, she would owe you one month rent back. So even from a legal stand point if you do owe her, if would only be for one month.

Next save a copy in wirting of that email ( and next never do legal notice by email always in writing and certified so you have proof of delivery) she can really claim you never notified her and you can't really prove you did.

So will she hire an attorney for one month rent? Most likely not, it would not be worth it. Will she go down to the court house and file a small claims case against you, ( well she may think she is entitled to all that money deposit, first and last and thinks she can keep it) so she may try that, and you will go present your case and lose but only owe her one months rent when it is all over. ( my opinoin anyway)

But most likely, she will merely threaten you, and harrasse you some about it, and then if you don't pay move on ( but of course I am wrong many times)

My opinion, first never sign any contract unless you are going to live with it, a persons word has to be his bond and if we back out of contracts , have buyers remorse and the such peple will have problems trusting us in the future. Next you owe her one months rent, I would offer that as a settlement in full of all clains, do it in writing , if you do go to court it would show good faith effort on your part. ( but offer it of course as a settlement not stating that you have any real obligtion to pay)

Next opinion, you can see how both sides can say they have a case under the same laws, so go to school and be an attorney since they can find a case for anyone.