I currently am locked into a 1 year lease with my best friend. He has brought his girlfriend into this house also. Her and I do not get along at all. I have asked him to get her out but he refuses and makes excuses. I am clearly ganged up her two to one, and I am thinking about moving out. Can I force him to take the entire lease because his girl has caused a hostile environment? I should not have to be miserable in my own home, although he clearly does not care.

Please help if you can, I live in the state of Florida.

Thanks,

Jason Barrett

Your lease isn't with your friend, it's with your landlord who has done nothing wrong in this scenario. If your lease spells out that only the two of you can live in the apartment you can ask the landlord to enforce the rule but he isn't required to do this. If you want to be evil about this move out and stop paying. He will be respossible for the lease payment and must sue you to recover.

No you can't force him to take over your part of the lease, if the lease is specific as to the number of people living in the house, you can ask the landlord to enforce this clause.

If not, you can move, but legally the other roommate can sue you for your part of any unpaid rent.

I agree with both posters above. Since we don't know the length of the lease term remaining, if it is for more than a couple of months you might want to consider speaking with your roommate again. Tell him that you cannot live with this new arrangement of the three of you living together. Tell him that you will agree to have his girlfriend's name placed on the lease in exchange for yours being removed and that you will help him as much as possible in dealing with the landlord. Then, call the landlord and tell him what is going on and what you have suggested to your roommate as a resolution. He will either agree to the change of responsibility (after doing a credit check), so you are free to move out without further obligation to him, or he will say no. If he agrees, make sure that you have something in writing from the landlord stating you are released of your responsibility for the remainder of the lease. If he does not agree and the rental agreement states that only the two of you are allowed to live in the residence, he is now aware of the fact a third person lives there. He might enforce the rule, he might not. If he doesn't, and there is no other way around this, then you are stuck. As the others above have suggested, you can move out but you leave yourself open to your roommate filing a lawsuit against you.