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Roommate Moved Out Without Notice; Not on Lease

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  • 04-07-2009, 06:36 PM
    PresMatt
    Roommate Moved Out Without Notice; Not on Lease
    My question involves a roommate in the State of: Mississippi

    One of my two roommates moved out yesterday without ANY notice. I literally woke up to her, her mother, and her brother moving her stuff out of our apartment. As a little back story, we were supposed to sign the lease in February, however my roommate, Krystal, took FOREVER to get in the rental application. Since I've lived here for several years the complex allowed us to wait for her without signing a lease OR paying on a month to month basis. On March 30th she turned in the completed rental application to our rental office along with a notarized gurantor letter signed by her mother. Around that time, she scratched her wrists with a SAFETY razor in order to get attention, leading her mother to fly down from Colorado and stay with Krystal at their house here for 3 days. On the third day they showed up and took all of her things. The night prior I texted her and told her that rent was due no later than 8am the next morning (the morning she ended up moving out) and she texted me back and said "I'm going to do it in the morning." I then texted her and said that if it was one minute later than 8am they would charge her a 10% late fee. She responded with "ok, I will." I have several text messages both saved in my phone and onto my computer where she agreed to sign the lease as well as the ones mentioned where she says she will be paying April rent. In addition to this, I have obtained her rental lease application. I am also assuming that I will be unable to collect her portion of cable/power bills that she used last month. My other roommate and I have found another place to live and are moving out at the end of this month. My question is, based on the evidence I have, do I have a case in small claims court to recover her 1/3 of the rent ($361.71), last months cable and power bills as well as the COMING months cable and power bill since she didn't give us ANY notice, the water bill, and also the month to month fees ($150) I have to pay since we aren't signing the lease as well as any other fee's incurred due to her moving out without any notice? I can also get a statement from the lady at the rental office saying that Krystal and I both came in a few days before this happened to sign the lease but it wasn't completed yet. Is intent to sign the lease enough for me to win this case? Thank you in advance!!!!!
  • 04-09-2009, 06:31 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Roommate Moved Out Without Notice; Not on Lease
    If she agreed to pay the rent and moved without notice, leaving you with the tab, you can probably recover the amounts she owes in small claims court. Similarly if she agreed to pay a share of the utilities. You can use your past practices (i.e., her payments in prior months), the text messages, and her statements about her obligations as evidence.
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