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I'm acting as landlord of my house as my real landlord is in Iraq serving with the US Army. I go through him with any big issues and this situation has worked well for going on 3 years. I have 3 other roomates and one of them spontaneously moved out without notice 2 days before rent was due. He moved out in the middle of the night and disappeared. I have a signed rental agreement stating that he is required to give 30 days notice in writing, so I was wondering if I had the ability to sue for the money he didn't pay. He also didn't pay utilities for the last month he was living here, so I would include that in the total sum. I had to pay my rent and his rent in full, so I'm out about $550 total and could sure use that money for my expenses, since he drained part of my savings account.
He left in the middle of the night. You can file in JP court or small claims court, but you probably will not ever get any money. If he ran, he ain't got no money. Don't waste your time chasing rainbows. Welcome to the world of being a LL. You didn't want to be the one who is out, but it sounds like it's going to fall on you.
He left in the middle of the night. You can file in JP court or small claims court, but you probably will not ever get any money. If he ran, he ain't got no money. Don't waste your time chasing rainbows. Welcome to the world of being a LL. You didn't want to be the one who is out, but it sounds like it's going to fall on you.
He has money, as he's an employee of the city. I have a feeling he left because he found a new house that was more 'lenient' on drinking, smoking and making tons of noise at 3 am on a weeknight...
Co-tenants are jointly and severally liable, meaning that any one of them can be sued for damages if another one defaults on rent payments. Another twist to consider: Most states impose a duty to mitigate upon a residential landlord, meaning that a good-faith effort must be undertaken to re-let the premises as quickly as possible. Here's what I found on California:
"California law states that a landlord has an affirmative duty to mitigate damages for rent accrued after termination of a tenancy. In other words, a landlord who seeks to recover more than rent accrued and unpaid at the time of termination of the tenancy must make reasonable good faith efforts (e.g. newspaper advertisement, "For Rent" sign, etc.) to re-rent the premises for the balance of the former tenant's unexpired term."
Of course, this is assuming your roommate is even solvent enough to be sued for damages. Did anyone co-sign?
Should be a simple case to prove you were damaged by the room mates breach... as always the problem is collecting on the judgement.
For the future... these kinds of problems can be minimized by collecting a Security deposit prior to move-in.
Yeah, I know it was a stupid move not to collect a security deposit. For the next roomate I'm definitely collecting a security deposit/ first and last. He is a salaried city employee, so at least he'll be easy to find/collect from in theory.
Quote:
Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen
Co-tenants are jointly and severally liable, meaning that any one of them can be sued for damages if another one defaults on rent payments. Another twist to consider: Most states impose a duty to mitigate upon a residential landlord, meaning that a good-faith effort must be undertaken to re-let the premises as quickly as possible. Here's what I found on California:
"California law states that a landlord has an affirmative duty to mitigate damages for rent accrued after termination of a tenancy. In other words, a landlord who seeks to recover more than rent accrued and unpaid at the time of termination of the tenancy must make reasonable good faith efforts (e.g. newspaper advertisement, "For Rent" sign, etc.) to re-rent the premises for the balance of the former tenant's unexpired term."
Of course, this is assuming your roommate is even solvent enough to be sued for damages. Did anyone co-sign?
Thanks for the info! He did not have a co-signer. I checked references, did a credit check etc. etc. and he checked out okay. I was planning on starting the eviction process on the first of December regardless, so it was kind of interesting that he moved out when he did.
I will yield to the previous responders, and only say that I agree. However, I'm dying to know how he accessed and drained part of your savings account. Just my morbid curiosity.
I will yield to the previous responders, and only say that I agree. However, I'm dying to know how he accessed and drained part of your savings account. Just my morbid curiosity.
Not literally, more figuratively. Since he didn't pay rent, I have to cover his share plus his utilities which I have to pull out of my savings, so in effect, because he didn't pay nor did he give me enough time to find a new roomate to replace him (by giving 30 days notice) he is forcing me to use my saved money to cover his ass. (and effectively mine)
Oh, OK. This is the time of year that my tenants would ask if they could skip on rent for awhile, knowing that I could afford it. They didn't realize that my mortgage company didn't feel so much in the Holiday spirit and expected to be paid, regardless. Bah Humbug! At least your roommate didn't take your furniture, appliances, or landscaping. Some of them do. I'd say, "Good riddence!"
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