My roommate is my landlord. Recently he decided to add roommate to the house. I was never asked,nor was it discussed in any way with me. Two days before the new guys moved in I got a phone call that said, we’re getting a new roommate. He moved into the room next to mine right on time. We, me (a female) and him (male, total stranger) now share a bathroom, and living space.

I didn’t care at the time of the phone call, because I figured my landlord/roommate was a reasonable person and that with the addition of another roommate, the rent would be split between more people. Money has been tight, so I thought it might be good.

Little did I know, that was not the case.

I’ll mention here, that before I moved in I asked more than once if he was planning to rent out the other room and he assured me that it was very unlikely. If I thought he was actually going to do it, I never would have moved in.

I emailed him, and told him how I felt, and he wrote back and said how lucky I’ve been to have had so much space to myself for the past few months until he could rent it out.

I feel completely deceived.

I guess what I want to know is, can he hold me to the original amount and full year of my lease even though my space, privacy, and the whole living situation has changed for the worse? Did he break the lease? Do I have the right to move out? Demand less rent? Do I have any rights at all, or should I just move out and hope he doesn’t take me to court?

Living in Seattle.

What does your lease say? Does it give you a full bath room or access to a full bathroom? Does it give you both rooms, or just one room?

What is the term of your written lease?

Yes, the terms of the lease matter. Also, do you have any documentation that he told you he didn't plan on renting the other space? Unless you can prove that, it would be hard to get out of the lease.

The lease I believe does say for just a bedroom. I have never put my stuff in the other room, and it has only been used as a guest bedroom by him.

I do have an email from him from before I moved in that doesn't rule out the possibility entirely but says "it will remain a guest bedroom."

Well its an iffy proposition. You can't sue him to break the lease. You have to move out and then he may sue you and you have to fight it under the grounds he promised you it would remain empty.

What you may be able to do is find someone to take over your share and then he may let you out.

I can't imagine someone wanting to pay as much as I do to take over the lease. If it was a good deal, I'd stay there myself.

You should hear this guy snore!

The only legal angle I can think of right now, is how the home is zoned, If he is renting "rooms" out, the zoning has to allow rooming houses in that zone.
I was going to try that one time and the city shut me down real quick because it was not zoned that way.

So if the his rooming house is not legal, the city can force him to stop operating in that manner.

Thank you for the responses. There was no lease agreement, because the person in question was my partner. When I purchased the home we were partners and she hasn't been paying anything for the last year or so. I am the person that goes to work everyday and she is stealing my things and acting as if she has rights. She is not on the title or the loan documents, but what I will say is that she is the one who has had me continually refinance the house when she spots something that appears to get me out of the tight situation I'm in. I have been operating with blinders on, but now I want out. I can not have her continue to rob me blind.

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Originally Posted by mwstudy

Thank you for the responses.

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I'm confused. I don't see any question from you in this thread. Did you post in the wrong thread or change your name or what?