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Is a Lease Valid if Only the Co-Signer Signs

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  • 12-27-2011, 12:16 PM
    BCCSNANNA
    Is a Lease Valid if Only the Co-Signer Signs
    My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: NC
    My husband and I have a 21 yr old daughter who is a single mother of a handicapped 18 month old child. Both our daughter and grandson had been living with the child’s father, but last year it became necessary for them to move out. Our daughter found an apartment that she could afford on her own, but needed a co-signer, so my husband agreed to co-sign the lease. When it came time to sign the lease, my husband and daughter could not go together because of conflicting schedules. My husband ended up going first. After signing the lease, he asked to see the actual apartment that our daughter would be moving into. Upon seeing the apartment, he was concerned because the floor throughout the entire apartment was concrete, something that would not be safe or practical for our grandson because of his age and condition. It turns out that the model apartment that our daughter had seen was a second floor apartment, which was carpeted. Because of her son, she required a first floor apartment and nobody at the apartment complex had bothered to tell her that all first floor apartments had concrete floors with no covering. Upon learning this, she realized that she could not rent this apartment and ended up never signing the lease. We forfeited the $175 admin fee and found another apartment that was more suitable to her needs. A couple months later, my husband started receiving collection calls from the apartment management office telling him that he was liable for the lease. They admit that they can’t pursue our daughter because she never signed the lease, but say that my husband owes the money because he did sign as a co-signer. When they started threatening to take my husband to court, we said good…we would welcome the chance to explain the situation to a judge and rely on a legal opinion as to whether he owes for the lease. To us it does not seem like there was ever a valid lease since our daughter never signed. Unfortunately, they’ve never bothered to take this to court, but instead have filed this on my husband’s credit report and turned it over to a collection agency. I don’t know how they came up with the amount that is owed, but it’s several thousand dollars and we really can’t afford it. Do we have any options?
  • 12-27-2011, 05:12 PM
    jk
    Re: Is a Lease Valid if Only the Co-Signer Signs
    Just to be sure: he was only a co-signer, correct? He was not listed as a lessee, right?





    If so, for him to be liable, there must be an executed contract. Since there was no executed contract, there is nothing for him to be liable for.
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