[scapps0004]

Both me and my boyfriend signed a TWO YEAR lease for our townhome. There is still about 14 months remaining on the lease and he has abruptly moved out in the middle of this month and is now ignoring my phone calls, emails, letters and text messages. I would like to stay at the house, but can't afford it by myself. It's really not a suitable set up for another roommate that wouldn't be sharing the master bedroom with me. What are my ex boyfriends responsibilities to me/the landlord? To my knowledge, my ex has not even notified the landlord of his leaving. At first, it was a temporary separation but now that I'm not receiving responses to my contact efforts, I'm going on the assumption it's permanent.

Is he liable for the terms of the lease? Will he have to pay me for his half of the rent even if he doesn't live here? If so, for how long? What can I do if he refuses to pay?

[rockinmommy]

Legally, he is just as responsible for the lease as you are. His choice not to live there has nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, unless the lease specifically states somehow that you are each responsible for half of the rent it's not like you can just pay your portion and expect them to go after him for the other half and leave you out of it. You're BOTH responsible for making sure that ALL of it gets paid.

If I were you I'd schedule a meeting with the landlord to go over the situation and find out what all of your options are and what will happen when you can only pay half of the September rent. Before the meeting become thoroughly acquainted with your lease and read your state's landlord/tenant laws. You can find a link to them in the first post in this forum.

Good luck,
Karla in TX

[landlord advocate]

At this point you are both liable for the monthly rent, until the lease ends or you sublet the property. Or turn the property back to the landlord to rerent. You will be obligated to pay for any month up until the landlord can get the property re-rented. You will also be obligated to pay the utilities and advertising costs and any damages done while you occupied the space. Let your landlord know he moved out. Let him know that you are going to advertise in the newspaper to find a new tenant. He should provide you will applications. He would also be the one giving the final approval. Keep track of all your expenses. Once a new tenant is in the apartment and you are safely in a smaller less expensive one, gather all you expenses to gether and file a small claims case against your room mate, in hope of regaining half of all your expenses. Find out what the landlord intends to do with the security deposit. Make sure it doesn't go back to the roommate.