Landlord Does Not Allow Replacement, Can I Sue the Landlord

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

I post a thread in the roommate section. here is the situation

my roommate didn't pay for two months rent, and left without returning, her stuff is still here. Last time, she tried to remove her stuff the landlord didn't allow because she asked someone else to do it and at that time both she and I were not there. It is hard to reach her, she terminated her phone, and didn't reply my emails. I paid for her part of rent. now I got married and want to move away. Originally I wanted to pay my part even I am not there. But now the place is empty and I am paying for two persons. I found someone to replace me, but the landlord say I have to have my roommate to sign to agree any change I make knowing that there is no way I can contact her! basically they are saying I am stuck here and I cannot find replacement. They are rewarding the irrepsonsible one here.

I want to sue both my roommate and my landlord? Is this possible?

Sue your landlord for what?

they don't allow me to replace my roommate. they did not literally say won't allow but they know I cannot get hold of her and ask me to get my roommate's signature! they won't go after her, now I can offer replacement, and they don't cooperate

first, if this is a common lease, you and the roommate are each liable for the entire amount of rent, unless the lease specifies that each of you owe a specific amount less than the total. That means, you are not paying rent for two people. You are simply paying; the rent.

Any action concerning that issue, unless as I specified above, would be between you and the roommate and based on your agreement with the roommate.

as to not allowing a replacement for you; there are three parties to your contract (lease) and due to that, all parties must agree to an amendment to the contract (replacing you with a different party). The landlord is not in error in their position, regardless of what you believe concerning the lack of being able to contact your roommate.


there is a problem with the landlord preventing the roommate from removing their property. It is illegal. The only defense to that would be if it was not clearly understood the person removing the property had the authority to do so.

How much time remains on the lease?

Based on your description, it might be best simply to abandon the apartment. That will invoke a requirement of the landlord to attempt to re-let the apartment to mitigate their damages. Of course, such an action could have dire and long term consequences so before taking such action, learn what those consequences could be.

we are co-signer of the lease. The landlord didn't let another woman whoever i don't know come into the apartment because my roommate sent the woman to remove her furniture. the landlord say without the my agreement, my roommate cannot remove her stuff. actually she did not even try to contact me for that matter.

actually i found a replacement, but the landlord didn't make this easier. if i abandon this place, i know they will evict us. but i don't have a social security number yet, and I am foreigner. I tried to be responsible but the landlord doesn't seem to be fair. I don't have a credit history, so if I get evicted, how can they put that on something doesn't exist?

Grain;683306]we are co-signer of the lease.

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The landlord didn't let another woman whoever i don't know come into the apartment because my roommate sent the woman to remove her furniture. the landlord say without the my agreement, my roommate cannot remove her stuff. actually she did not even try to contact me for that matter.

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incorrect. Your permission was not required. The only question was whether the person sent to remove the property actually had permission from the other tenant to remove the other tenant's property. The landlord refusing to allow the removal of the property equates to an illegal retention of the property. The only defense I can imagine would be the LL refused to allow the activity because the LL was concerned the person might remove some of your property, either intentionally or unintentionally. The LL wanting you to be there to oversee the removal was not totally incorrect. Since the other tenant hasn't made an issue of the situation since then, it amounts to nothing really.

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I don't have a credit history, so if I get evicted, how can they put that on something doesn't exist?

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I guess that would be your first bit of credit history. Not a good place to start and especially given your foreign status, not a good idea. Ignore the prior suggestion unless you have specific direction from a lawyer to do so. I do not know how it might impact your status and presence.

so, how much time remaining on the lease?

Oh, I forgot to tell you, there is another 6 months left:grumpy: ...

The landlord does not allow I rent out my place either. Can I do it secretly? they say they will fine me for $200 for illegal occupant, I wonder if this is the one time fee or for each day

does your lease specifically prohibit sub-leasing?

the lease doesn't say anything about it, but the landlord told me they don't allow sub-leasing. If I can contact my roommate, things will be easier because i know she will be very happy she can get off lease for free. or she just wants to be a pain in the ***, which I don't understand because I did nothing to her to deserve this. I start to think she might be sociopath or something

I'm finding confusing information regarding subletting. I do not find anything in the law that prevents them from not allowing subletting but the fact it is not specified in the lease means they have not prohibited it. They do not get to verbally amend the lease.

The problem:

I have found information suggesting the landlord, even without reservation, has a right to approve or disapprove of a sub-lessor. Given that right, it could seriously complicate your attempts to sublet the unit. It does appear that if you present a prospective subtenant for approval, the LL has 10 days to respond. A failure to respond has been determined to be tacit approval.

Depending on how far you want to go with this, I suspect you could eventually prevail in a suit to terminate the lease if the tenant refused to approve a valid sub-lessor.