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michaa · Feb 20, 2007, 12:38 PM

I live in VA. And am in a perdicament over a house. Two other tenets signed the lease. I stayed there a couple of weeks. I left the house but now the landloard is saying I am responsible to pay for some rent. My name was on a lease but I have not signed it am I obligated to the house.

Fr_Chuck · Feb 20, 2007, 12:40 PM

It is very likely you can be held liable. Although you did not sign the contract you "acte on it" by moving in, you were in fact agreeing to the terms of it.

At a mim they would and could hold you to the terms of a month to month verbal rental, if not to the full terms of the lease.

What did you pay when you moved in, how much is he wanting.

michaa · Feb 20, 2007, 01:57 PM

He did not really keep track of who paid what... he just expected that the rent of $1000 be due each month for one year... could I really be held liable even though I did not sign the contract lease?

Fr_Chuck · Feb 20, 2007, 03:55 PM

By physcially moving in, you acted upon the lease, a contract can be binding several ways, one is signing the contract and paying some consideration, another way is to act upon the contract as if it is valid,

Thus your moving in, and he allowing you to move in, gives the impression of acceptance of the lease agreement.

At best, it showed you were on a month to month verbal rental, so you will owe him at the least a sun equal to what the month to month rental would be. That would be basically first month you move in, and rent for the next month as the 30 day notice.

So you would owe him 1/3 of two months rent at the very min.

* my opinion anyway,

michaa · Feb 20, 2007, 05:08 PM

Sir thank you very much I will pay what I owe your comments were very helpful

Fr_Chuck · Feb 20, 2007, 07:10 PM

Now there can be those here that will disagree, but if you moved in, you intended to live there, now I don't know what the landlord is asking, you can talk to him and try and work out a fair amount.

You never gave good details, so my advice in that in general

landlord advocate · Feb 21, 2007, 11:48 AM

I am going to look at this from a little different direction. We have a person whose name is on the lease, with two additional names and signatures of those two individuals only.

Chances are the lease has a statement on it that "each tenant is individually responsible for the full amount of the rent" or words/phrase that means the same. We need to look at this far more closely before MICHAA gives the landlord any money and therefore confirms that he is in fact a tenant. We could be talking big bucks here!

Question: Are the other two tenants still living in the apartment?

Please hold off sending money or talking to the landlord until we can sort this out. Give us a few for facts. Are the other two tenants still living there? Are they paying rent? Do they intend to stay for the term of the lease?

michaa · Feb 21, 2007, 11:08 PM

No the other two tenets no longer live there the landloard has only gotten in touch with me he can't contact the other two... I can't either
They are not paying rent even though they signed the lease

landlord advocate · Feb 22, 2007, 07:08 AM

Worse case scenario, you will be held responsible for the full amount of the rent until the property is rented to someone else. The other two are responsible to pay, but unable to be located. Since you didn't sign the lease, and the financial lose could be substantial, I would be inclined to fight the case. How does the landlord know that you were not a "guest" of the current tenants? You didn't sign the lease, so you never followed through with the transaction. Considering the amount of money that could be at stake, I think it is worth the time. If you do end up paying, you intern would bring suit against the other two tenants in small claims court to get the rent money and court costs from them. If it were me, I would not be admitting that I was a tenant. I would continue to say that I did not sign the lease or commit to rent the property. Then I would wait to see what the landlord's next move is.