Never On The Lease, In Michigan
I lived in a house with 6 other girls and it has been the worst decision of my life. Since the house was only rated for 6 people living there, I was never on the lease, nor did I sign any written agreement (or verbal agreement) about the dates I'd be living there, etc.
It started in the summer. I was paying rent starting May and planned on moving into the house in June. One week before I was to move in, I emailed the girl already living there about getting the key. She informed me that she had subletted my room since I had expressed interest in subletting (though no one let me know anyone was interested, or asked me for that matter). It caused a huge problem in which I had to cancel an internship.
Needless to say, we started off badly.
Over the next few months, I basically started living at a friends house because the girls were so awful. During this time I still paid rent every month on time, as well as their utilities (cable, heat, water, electricity) that I wasn't using. The last 4 months of the lease, I literally was in the house for a total of 2 days tops, and one girl approached me about paying their utilities because I hadn't been there to give them a check(over $200). I let her know I couldn't pay for their cable, water, etc anymore.
I'd like to add, that during this time, they got a large dog (which was against the lease) that was in my room and the common living areas, they moved a bunch of my stuff into the basement where it got dirty, and I wasn't receiving quite a few pieces of my mail (I assume they threw it out or put it somewhere).
My friends convinced me to move out during spring break, which I did. I turned my key into my landlord with a note explaining the situation and asking him to call if he had any questions.
Now they're demanding I pay the next 2 months rent (I have nothing in the house). I was assuming that I just wouldn't get my security deposit back, which is enough to cover the rent. Can they take me to small claims court?
Should I ignore the girls and just work this out through the landlord? Because he seemed to be okay with the situation (he never called me to talk)....
Re: Never On The Lease - MI
Did you give written notice that you would be leaving?
Sure they could sue, but that doesn't mean they will get what they are asking.
http://michigantenants.org/resource....7062/html_view
Re: Never On The Lease - MI
I didn't give written notice, but they sent an email about utilities noting that I hadn't been living there for months. I hadn't even spent the night there for over 3 months...
I'm just worried because the landlord isn't answering my emails.
Is there anything I have to the fact that 7 people aren't every allowed to occupy the house? I'm concerned about if I should just pay the rent and collect the security deposit back since it'll be about the same amount either way :/
Re: Never On The Lease - MI
You say that the house was only rated for six people. If that's a limit set by your local government, that's a defense to the claim that you were a legal tenant. If that's merely a limit set by the lease, it isn't. Basically, if the government says "no more than six tenants can live in this house," and they bring you in as a seventh, you should be able to document that to a court and have your rental agreement declared void.
If your rental agreement is valid, it sounds like a court would probably regard you as a month-to-month tenant, in which case you could have ended your rental agreement on one month's notice.
Were you paying your rent to your roommates, or directly to their landlord?
Re: Never On The Lease, In Michigan
I was sending the rent to the landlord and the house is set to 6 people by the local government.
He knows there are seven of us there because I was going to sign the lease but he told us only six could sign and basically that he'd look the other way for me to live there.
It's also a basement room, which I've heard someone say might not be legal either... Does anyone know something about that?
Re: Never On The Lease, In Michigan
You're the one who chose to live in the basement. We have no way of knowing if it is a legal bedroom - we've never seen it - but I somehow doubt that it has a clear path to an exit or an egress window.