Roommate wants out after only a month…..

At the beginning of August I rented an apartment with two other girls. We are all attending college and wanted to have our own place rather than stay in the dorms. The landlord said that he would only accept one guarantor over the entire rent, so Sandra’s Dad (who has a lot of money) guarantor the rent. Now after only a month, she decided that she doesn’t want to live in the City, has transferred to Missouri State, and moved out. We can find another roommate, but are we legally allowed to live here? And should we tell the landlord?

Hi Carrie, sorry that you are having this trouble. This type of situation is exactly why landlords don’t like to rent to students/multiple roomates. There is the practical solution and the legal solutution. How it plays out depends in large part to your finances and Sandra’s Dad. If your parent had been the guarantor, this would not be an issue. The fact that Sandra’s Dad is the guarantor is where the serious problems lie.

If your name is on the lease, you have the right to live in the apartment as long as you pay rent and adhere to the other requirements of the lease. Sandra is legally responsible for her part of the payment, because she signed a legally binding contract. But, if she has moved out and is now in another state, that may be really difficult to collect. In New York, a lease signatory (each person who signs the lease) is “jointly and severally” responsible for the rent payment. That means that each of you is legally responsible for ALL of the rent, not just your part. So, the landlord won’t accept 2/3rds of the rent from you and the other roommate and disregard Sandra’s part. Actually, if your other roommate moved out too, you would be responsible for the entire rent.

Sandra’s father is legally responsible for the entire rent, in the event that the rent doesn’t get paid. Since he guaranteed the rent for the apartment and NOT just for his daughter, he is responsible even though she has moved out. As long as the rent is paid, the landlord wouldn’t contact him about his responsibility. The problem arises however, if Sandra’s Dad contacts the landlord and asks to terminate the lease early. Because of the low occupancy rate, the landlord knows that he can quickly rent the unit out again and may make some money in the deal if Sandra’s Dad offers to buy out the lease. In that instance, Sandra’s Dad may offer to pay two month’s rent as a premium for the landlord to terminate his responsibility. This would leave you in an awkward spot. The landlord would likely alert you that you either had to find a new guarantor or that the lease had been breached and that you have a certain amount of time to move out.

If you contact the landlord and tell him what has happened, you may find that he moves to evict you. While that would take some time, it isn’t a nice process and will leave a black mark on your credit. If you have a responsible person who can move into Sandra’s place and cover that part of the rent, fine. The new roommate however will not be able to sign the lease with the landlord, but could have a sublet agreement for Sandra’s room.

As long as you keep paying the rent on time and Sandra’s Dad doesn’t make any calls, the landlord probably won’t know or care who lives there. You should be aware however that if you wanted to extend the lease, Sandra’s father would have to sign again as the guarantor unless you can find someone else. Since that would be unlikely if his daughter isn’t living there, you should prepare to move at the end of this lease.

originally posted August 26, 2007