On 1st Septemeber 2007 I took over the lease from a previous tenant in Hoboken, NJ. I signed a new lease putting my name and the other roomates name on the lease, I paid a security deposit which I would later get back when the lease ended in June 30, 2008 and also paid half of 1 months rent. This was all agreed upon verbally.

On Jan 15 2008 I moved out and another girl took over my lease. She promised to give me half of Jan's rent plus the security deposit that I paid to the other girl when I took her place.

It has now been 2 months and although I have corresponded with her on several occasions and had emails and text messages reassuring me I would get my money she has still not handed over the money she owes me.

How do I go about getting the money she owes me? I currently live in Manhattan, NY now so if I was to push ahead with legal proceedings would I need to make the claim in NJ? I am from Australia so I am not familiar with the avenue I would take to try to claim this money back.

You will need to take her to small claims court in the city where the apartment is located. Save all of the emails and text message as proof she promised to pay

First of all, yes you would need to file the paperwork in the jurisdiction in which the lease agreement is. If that persons name is not on the lease, then you are fully responsible, and there could be no court proceedings. If you leased to her verbally and she is not on the lease, that is subletting, and most rental properties lease agreements do not allow that.

If you and her are both on the lease, you are in it together, and no matter what the rent has to be paid. The renters do not care which one of you pays the rent, as long as it gets paid. If she is on the lease, you might want to try a civil suit and try to get a civil jusgement.

The person took over the lease from me. I had originally signed the lease with another person. A new lease agreement was signed by this person who owes me money and my previous room mate.

She is now listed on the new lease but my old room mate has since moved out too.

Does this mean I will not be able to take her to the small claims court as suggested?

My other idea was to ring the management company and explain my situation and then see if they can get the security deposit owing to me from her and then pay me what is owed. At least this way I can get some of the money owing to me without going to court or going through legal proceedings.

Is it two people besides yourself that are on the lease? If so, than you are no longer able to get your deposit back, it is no longer "yours".

I probably should have tried to get this money or some sort of deposit from the girl who took over from me before she signed the lease. She is now on the lease and I have left so I guess I don't really have a case and will have to go through the small claims court after I have sent her a letter to see if I can settle this out of court.