My roommate and I lived together for a year before she decided to move her boyfriend in. We came to an agreement that it would not be necessary to put him on the lease, but that he would pay 1/3 of the bills. Two weeks ago, he threatened me, got confrontational, and told me to move out, to which I replied, "Gladly". Now obviously he doesn't have the right to kick me out of my own apartment, but I felt that I didn't deserve to have his anger directed at me, so we broke the lease and everyone moved out.

The fees involved to break the lease are a month and a half's rent. $1620. When I told my (ex)roommate that I would have my third ($540) paid as soon as possible, she said I owed HALF, that he wouldn't be paying any of it because only our names were on the lease.

Is this worth taking to a small claims court? Do I even have a case? I read somewhere online that an oral contract is just as sound as a written agreement. All I need to do is prove that he was, in fact, a resident. (which I can do with bank statements, signed letters from neighbors, etc)

Suggestions?

This is a tricky situation. Legally, you and your roommate owe the rent and the boyfriend was an illegal occupant. Now, you have a done deal with the landlord. I think you have to pay your half, and chalk this up to a life's lesson well learned.

I don't see how you have anyone to sue(Judge, law, court) as you were a participant in allowing an illegal occupant.

This is just my opinion.

How long was he living there paying his 1/3? Do you have proof that he was paying 1/3?

If so, you do have a case. If you sue him for his third, you will probably win, but will you collect? If he doesn't have a job or assets he can just laugh at you.

I always wrote the rent checks to the apartment complex. He would give me a personal check to cover his third. It's likely that my bank can provide copies of these checks to prove that he consistently gave me exactly one-third of the rent amount for 12 months.

Is that enough evidence?

I wouldn't count on the bank producing the copies, but if they do that should be enuf proof.

I have a copy of one of his checks that they sent me because it BOUNCED. Yeah, should have seen that coming...

Unfortunately, one check won't do it. Am I at liberty to obtain the checks?

You can ask your bank. You can also subpeona his bank records.

Is that going to cost me?

Never mind, Scott. I looked it up. Thanks for all your assistance.

Ideally, I would like to do my research and use the evidence as enough to "threaten" him into paying it, but I'm really not expecting it to work.

In the end, I'll probably have to suck it up and pay the extra money. I'm not going down without a decent fight though! Thanks again for your help, Scott!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pauletta17

My roommate and I lived together for a year before she decided to move her boyfriend in. We came to an agreement that it would not be necessary to put him on the lease, but that he would pay 1/3 of the bills. Two weeks ago, he threatened me, got confrontational, and told me to move out, to which I replied, "Gladly". Now obviously he doesn't have the right to kick me out of my own apartment, but I felt that I didn't deserve to have his anger directed at me, so we broke the lease and everyone moved out.

The fees involved to break the lease are a month and a half's rent. $1620. When I told my (ex)roommate that I would have my third ($540) paid as soon as possible, she said I owed HALF, that he wouldn't be paying any of it because only our names were on the lease.

Is this worth taking to a small claims court? Do I even have a case? I read somewhere online that an oral contract is just as sound as a written agreement. All I need to do is prove that he was, in fact, a resident. (which I can do with bank statements, signed letters from neighbors, etc)

Suggestions?

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Pauletta,

The first thing you need to do is sit down and try to figure out why you deliberately did something that had negative financial consequences as a response to something totally unrelated. A more appropriate response would have been to sit down like adults and address the situation, and possibly set some house rules. If the threat of violence was real, then you had the option of dialing 911.

Two of you were on the lease. The two of you broke it. The two of you are responsible for paying for it.

He was a sub-tenant as he was paying you. In effect, you were his landlord. He had no lease and therefore no penalty. Not having a lease doesn't absolve one from paying rent, but it sure as heck absolves someone from having to pay financial penalties, arbitrary or not. The mere fact that he lived there does not mean that he is responsible for paying a fee to break the lease. You and the other woman agreed to the penalty by signing the lease that contained the penalty, not him.

What good are your bank records going to do? No one is disputing the fact that he a) lived there, and b) paid you rent. It's a moot point.

Unless he agreed to pay for one third of the penalty when the three of you were discussing leaving AND his girlfriend is willing to testify to it, good luck.

I never said "violence", I said confrontational.

The apartment complex installed a new water heater. I thought the temperature was colder than before, so I (with my roommate, not HIS, approval) changed the settings to make it warmer. We received a $300 power bill. I apologized and (AGAIN with HER approval) changed it back to its original settings.

A few weeks pass and he confronts me as I'm headed out the door for work with, "WHY ARE WE TAKING COLD SHOWERS??" "DON'T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE CONSULTED WITH ME FIRST??" "OF COURSE NOT CAUSE YOU'RE ING PSYCHO. EVERYONE KNOWS IT." "WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET OUT. NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE ANYWAY."

My response, "Gladly. Say the word and it's done."

He is a 29 year old child. He has a 4 year old daughter that lives in Pennsylvania (we live in Florida) that he never visits/calls/writes.

He is addicted to online poker and often calls out of work when he's in the middle of a "tournament".

He told his "good friend" to go smoke a cigarette and have a heart attack like his dad (who had just suffered a heart attack a couple of weeks prior) after getting into a debate about whose house to host poker at.

His BEST friend even describes him as an "" and says that that's how he deals with confrontation. He uses a person's weaknesses against them. He blames it on the fact that he grew up without his mother and his father was a strict military officer who showed him no love.

He's picked fights with me before and always resorts to calling me "psycho" because he knows that I spent a year on an antidepressant. (Even though his girlfriend has consistently been taking an antidepressant for the past 2 years.)


This is not a MAN.

Say what you will, "Sharonfrom Hoboken", but changing a water heater to conserve money does NOT constitute this type of behavior from a 29 year old man.

I will not sit down and discuss anything with him because he immediately raises his voice and begins with the namecalling.

His own girlfriend has been so manipulated by him that she is finally breaking free and moving to Maryland and walking away from the situation altogether.

Therefore, he has made it clear that it is necessary to take more drastic measures. Do I want to? No. Do I have the time/money/energy to exhause on this? NO.

I came here to seek advice, not to air my dirty laundry, but you asked, so shall you receive.

Care to rephrase your "advice"?