Hi, my roommate and I were both on a lease for an apartment not too long ago. Well, he loses his job and subsequently starts laying around the apartment refusing to pay rent. Since he was on the lease as well, I couldn't kick him out so we agreed I would cover him on rent until the day we finally had to call it quits and move out early by giving a 2 month moving out notice. Of course, I haven't seen a single dime of that rent money from him and as a kicker the leasing office sends him the entire security deposit check!! So, now not only does he get away with not paying rent they throw him the whole deposit to keep since they never put my name on the check, though we are both on the lease. Of course, they say I should take him to court over it, though really it's their mistake, yet the contract states he is the primary leaser which means they can write the whole deposit to him without needing to include me, meaning its his sole responsibility to do what he wants with the check. Can I legitametly take him to small claims, and get my money back including rent and deposit? Please help, thank you.

You can sue him for all of the back rent, and for that part of the deposit you paid ( if you can prove you paid the deposit , cancelled check ?)

Thanks Fr_Chuck. I do have a copy of the security deposit check that was sent to him, however, to my own disadvantage, I had paid our original down payment through cash and money orders, I have the money order receipts, I suppose the next step is to ask the leasing office for a copy of the actual security deposit receipt if they can recover that for me. As far as the rent payments go I have documented checks that were all in my name, the months he did pay rent my check will read 500 dollars, the months I had to cover they were reading over a grand. When I paid the deposit through cash and money order, the leasing office never gave me a receipt, at the time I was a first time mover and very uneducated to the fact that getting the receipt was important. Fr_Chuck would they still be able to access a copy of that receipt through their computers/records? Thanks so much.

"I would cover him on the rent...." doesn't exactly mean the same as "I will loan you your share of the rent money and you will pay me the money back at a later date" In other words, if you are intending to take him to court for his share of the rent... you better be very careful how you word it. As far as the security deposit: have you reviewed the lease agreement? Does it state who provided the security deposit and how it is to be returned? Is your name listed on the lease? If you are listed as a lease holder and you do decide to go to small claims court, I would list the apartment complex as a defendant as well as your roommate. True story: We purchased a rental property, fixed it up, sold it. It was then sold again. Each time, the co-tenant's security deposit was given to the new owner at time of sale. When the tenants moved out, the current owner gave the security deposit to one tenant without the permission of the other tenant. The one that was short changed brought suit against the past three owners. The owners lost the case and both tenants received the full amount of the deposit. Now we use a "roommate addendum" on all our leases. The addendum specifies exactly how the security deposit will be handlod. Each tenant initials their understanding of the agreement beofre they get the keys.