Landlord lease apartment roommate issues

[LeoLeo99]

My son and his roommate share an apartment. I'm cosigner for my son, the other roommate's father is his cosigner. All 4 of us sign the lease and are all responsible to pay it. My son's roommate will not be returning to school. He's facing a prison sentence for something he did and he kicked out of school for bad grades besides. Anyway, the roommate has stopped paying his share of the rent. Leaving it all on me to pay it. The roommate has basically moved out and is living back him with his parents. After declaring bankruptcy and fighting my way back to an 800+ FICO, I'm not going to let this ruin my credit score. So, I've been paying the entire rent myself this month. And I've paid a considerable amount more than half and previous months, too.

 

I'm meeting with the property manager to see about getting out of the lease on Thursday to discuss my options.

 

The other party has stopped returning emails and phone calls.

 

They've told me I could pay 2 months ahead and apply for early termination but that would depend on if they have folks waiting and wanting to rent the apt. My son already found another place to live and bless his heart, moved in there without telling me. He understands if we can't get out of the lease, which expires in August, he can't be living in two places. But that's an aside.

 

Any tips on what to do with this situation? Can I pay the entire rent myself and go after the other party in court?

[gioguy21]

My son and his roommate share an apartment. I'm cosigner for my son, the other roommate's father is his cosigner. All 4 of us sign the lease and are all responsible to pay it. My son's roommate will not be returning to school. He's facing a prison sentence for something he did and he kicked out of school for bad grades besides. Anyway, the roommate has stopped paying his share of the rent. Leaving it all on me to pay it. The roommate has basically moved out and is living back him with his parents. After declaring bankruptcy and fighting my way back to an 800+ FICO, I'm not going to let this ruin my credit score. So, I've been paying the entire rent myself this month. And I've paid a considerable amount more than half and previous months, too.

 

I'm meeting with the property manager to see about getting out of the lease on Thursday to discuss my options.

 

The other party has stopped returning emails and phone calls.

 

They've told me I could pay 2 months ahead and apply for early termination but that would depend on if they have folks waiting and wanting to rent the apt. My son already found another place to live and bless his heart, moved in there without telling me. He understands if we can't get out of the lease, which expires in August, he can't be living in two places. But that's an aside.

 

Any tips on what to do with this situation? Can I pay the entire rent myself and go after the other party in court?

by the sounds of it, if you wish to keep your credit rating intact, have the where-with-all to do it -- I'm no legal official but you'd easily have grounds to pursue them in court. they signed a contract, didn't abide by it and in fear of damage to your own self/livelihood you paid their share.

 

I was in a similar situation in college -- but lived with 3 other guys. one guy was our friend/teammate who's family was on rough times. he got into our place knowing we were able to cover the whole rent -- told us 3 months in he couldn't afford it and we were his only option for housing.

 

we didn't go after him but, we could've if we were a**holes.

[Glaze22]

Check the rental agreement, when two parties (1=you+son 2=the other father+son) agree to pay half of the rent and 1 does not, it should not make you liable for the other half unless stated in the agreement. Now don't go crazy with this information, I may be wrong. Different rental places have crazy rules, but it may make it so you only have to pay half of the rent at the most. You do have grounds for terminating the agreement because 1/2 of the agreement holders have backed out and in court that most likely would hold up. My friend runs an apartment complex and when this happens 90% of the time the court would rule in your favor with a situation like yours. But like I said it is different in each state and company, so do a little background work first.