Is Cotenant Who Moves Out Required to Pay Rent After Automatic Lease Renewal

[Lee New]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Virginia

My girlfriend moved out of our apartment on February 25 to be with someone else that started out as "just a friend". We both co-signed the lease on September 1, 2011 and agreed to share rent for at least one year. Now that she has moved out she no longer wants to pay her half of the rent; however, since our lease is "self-renewing" at the end of one year on September 1, 2012, the landlady has told my ex-girlfriend that the only way that she would no longer be responsible for paying her half of the rent is if I give her a written document removing her as a co-tenant from the original lease since she no longer resides there. Is this accurate? I plan on living here until I am able to afford something else, which might be awhile. I am disabled and currently cannot afford to pay the entire rent with my SSI Disability check. Can my ex-girlfriend get out of a co-signed "self-renewing" lease in any other way other than by my signing a document absolving her responsibility to pay rent?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Your ex-roommate signed a lease through September 1, 2012, and I expect the lease holds both you and her liable for rent for that entire lease term, so if you fail to pay the full rent your landlady can attempt to hold your ex-roommate liable for the rent that has not been paid. Note that if you don't pay your full rent on a timely basis, individually or jointly, your landlady can evict you.

Once you renew the lease you're on your own. Your landlady has received notice that your ex-roommate is long gone, well in advance of the end of the current lease term.

[Lee New]

Your ex-roommate signed a lease through September 1, 2012, and I expect the lease holds both you and her liable for rent for that entire lease term, so if you fail to pay the full rent your landlady can attempt to hold your ex-roommate liable for the rent that has not been paid. Note that if you don't pay your full rent on a timely basis, individually or jointly, your landlady can evict you.

Once you renew the lease you're on your own. Your landlady has received notice that your ex-roommate is long gone, well in advance of the end of the current lease term.

My girlfriend has continued to pay her half of the rent "just in case" she decides to come back and she has moved back in on March 16, March 20 and April 9 and she has never specifically asked me to remove her from the lease; however, my landlady, who has 13 years experience in dealing with "self-renewing" or "self-extending" leases, which revert to monthly after the first year, has told me that on numerous occasions she has seen this same situation occur and only the the landlord or the remaining co-tenant can sign a document removing the other co-tenants, whose names also appear on the lease, from their due diligence, even after the original year of the lease ends. In this case the landlady knows I will have to move out immediately, my credit rating will be destroyed and the apartment will not be rented out any time soon.

Another interesting twist is that my ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend entered my apartment tonight (presumably), while I was on dialysis, using her key and deleted the contents of my computer, including about 3000 photos, 800 videos and 500 documents. Is this a crime and should I call the police? I am slowly recovering what I can from the hard drive, because they did not "wipe" it and I also have much of it backed up in a cloud.

[Lee New]

Your ex-roommate signed a lease through September 1, 2012, and I expect the lease holds both you and her liable for rent for that entire lease term, so if you fail to pay the full rent your landlady can attempt to hold your ex-roommate liable for the rent that has not been paid. Note that if you don't pay your full rent on a timely basis, individually or jointly, your landlady can evict you.

Once you renew the lease you're on your own. Your landlady has received notice that your ex-roommate is long gone, well in advance of the end of the current lease term.

Thanks again for your reply. My ex-girlfriend/co-tenant has now failed to pay her share of the July rent without giving notice to either me or the landlord and without asking to be removed from the lease, which would require both of our signatures. I am assuming that if I pay her share of the rent on the self-renewing/self-extending lease that I can sue her in Small Claims Court for her share at least through August and possibly for as long as I continue to live here and her name remains on the lease. Is this correct?