[ech818]

Hi,

I lived in a grouphouse in Washington, DC for about 7 months. I was on a one year lease and moved out in mid-December. I gave them notice that I was moving out and would continue to pay rent & utilities until February 1st so they would have enough time to find a new roommate. My lease says that if I break the lease and they can't find a new roommate, then I don't get my deposit back & they are now trying to claim that they couldn't find someone new. However I gave them 6 weeks to find a new roommate, which in DC is more than enough time to find someone and had they told me they were having problems finding someone, I could have helped out and found someone for them. Furthermore, when I was in DC moving my furniture out at the very end of January, they were showing my room to a potential roommate. They told her they had just started showing the room and they told her it wasn't available for immediate move-in because they wanted to paint it. So it seems that they didn't find a roommate because they weren't looking and they were making a February 1 move in date impossible. What sort of legal recourse do I have in this matter? It's a lot of money to me and I believe I gave them ample time to fulfill their duty in finding a new roommate to replace me. I don't want to be screwed out of this deposit!
Thanks!

[JudyKayTee]

Hi,

I lived in a grouphouse in Washington, DC for about 7 months. I was on a one year lease and moved out in mid-December. I gave them notice that I was moving out and would continue to pay rent & utilities until February 1st so they would have enough time to find a new roomate. My lease says that if I break the lease and they can't find a new roomate, then I don't get my deposit back & they are now trying to claim that they couldn't find someone new. However I gave them 6 weeks to find a new roomate, which in DC is more than enough time to find someone and had they told me they were having problems finding someone, I could have helped out and found someone for them. Furthermore, when I was in DC moving my furniture out at the very end of January, they were showing my room to a potential roomate. They told her they had just started showing the room and they told her it wasn't available for immediate move-in because they wanted to paint it. So it seems that they didn't find a roomate because they weren't looking and they were making a February 1 move in date impossible. What sort of legal recourse do I have in this matter? It's a lot of money to me and I believe I gave them ample time to fulfill their duty in finding a new roomate to replace me. I don't want to be screwed out of this deposit!
Thanks!

It looks like you can't work it out with your ex-roommates so they keep the deposit, you go to Small Claims Court and the Judge decides what the truth is.

The fact that there are lots of people looking for living space doesn't mean they have to accept one of them, as long as they aren't setting their standards too high. I've seen the Courts decide in similar matters (and when the stakes are high a "tester" is sent in to see what's going on, believe it or not!) that the roommates don't have to accept anyone "lesser" than the moving out person - lesser in employment, education, background. They have to be reasonable but they don't have to accept the first person who can walk and chew gum at the same time.

I'd say it's worth a shot - and I don't think you have any other choice - in Small Claims Court.