I was a secondary signer on a lease in a case that I move out three months before it was up. The primary signer and the third roommate not on the lease did not pay. Now I am receiving debt letters from a collections agency for the unpaid lease is there anything I can do?

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Originally Posted by andrew2

... is there anything i can do?

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Pay your debt and then sue your roommates.

You need to read the lease that you signed. Most likely it stated that the signers were separately responsible for the rental. This means that each signer was responsible for the whole rental separately. If you moved out before the lease was up then you are responsible for the balance of the lease.

As noted, you can sue the roommates for their share. But if taken to court you will lose and the amount you owe will be increased by legal fees.

You were all signers of the lease...

Who's name came first doesn't matter... unless the lease was specifically written so that each person paid their share any one can be held to pay for all.

Few landlords would allow or even want to get three checks from three people on one rental. That's three times the work for them. Those situations would be rare.



Just an FYI... even if you was a cosigner and didn't even live there... you could be on the hook in this case.

I'd pay them and take the roomamtes to small claims court to get the rest... otherwise as was mentioned by Scottgem and AK Lawyer. THey could take you to court... and you would have to pay penalties and legal fees that you would likely not be able to recover from those former roommates as they were incured by YOUR failure to pay as required.

You could likely get only the portion of the actual rent they owed.

Yeah it sucks... but that's why you have to choose your roommates carefully. You aren't the first to have this happen, and won't be the last. THey CAN and DO go after the one person most likely to have the assets to recover their loss.