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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
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    7

    Default Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of Virginia: so I moved out of my house i rented in Richmond, the landlord took all of the security deposit $1800 to fix my room. Two of my roommates wants me to pay their portions of the deposit back because they gave me money and I wrote a check for the landlord for $1800. So rent is one check as well. They said they are willing to take me to court for the amount I owed them. She said that she has free representation and that she would win the case because the landlord only fixed my room only. I knew our deposit was gone by how we were living in that house. The house was really dirty and no one bothers to clean it up, usually it would be me or this other roommate who cleans. We had mice as well. The house overall was dirty in general. I lived with three other people. On top of that the landlord wants additional $700 because he used more than $1800 to repair my room. One of the roommates is still currently living there right now. The landlord didn't do a walk through exit inspection with us and we didn't know about it as well. Also there was two other people still living there as well. We didn't have any roommate agreement about how the security deposit would be done or who will pay what damages. On the lease it just said one security deposit doesn't say anything about one person paying for the damages. It was one lease with three people names and one roommate whose name is not on the lease. So Idk what to do

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
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    988

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    The high moral road may be one thing.....but assuming you are not your roommates Ll on what legal theory do they think you owe them?

    In general my leases for roomate situations call for joint and several liability for the whole...not my problem to divide it up.

    Hard to follow impact of,some folks,stay.others move out ...reads like a boarding house

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
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    7

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    because the landlord only fixed my room and didn't do anything else to the place. From what the roommate suing me for told my friend that she's gonna win because landlord fixed my room only.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
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    988

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    And show me the contract between you and your RM? Look I get it that made a mess ..but what privity of contract exists....

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
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    7

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    well there isn't a contract between the roommates. the only contract we have is the lease

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    OP is liable to the others because OP caused damage which consumed the deposit all parties shared in paying.
    In other words: if not for the actions of the OP the others would have received their deposit back from the landlord. Why should the other tenants have to pay for the damages the OP caused?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    Quote Quoting HRinDEVON
    View Post
    The high moral road may be one thing.....but assuming you are not your roommates Ll on what legal theory do they think you owe them?

    In general my leases for roomate situations call for joint and several liability for the whole...not my problem to divide it up.

    Hard to follow impact of,some folks,stay.others move out ...reads like a boarding house
    Agree with JK.

    You're all wet HR.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    7

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    Honestly I don't think we would have gotten our deposit with how the house was really dirty and gross. It was probably the dirtiest house I lived in and we were all girls. I used to have guy roommates and it was never that bad. I had friends over and they say that the house is pretty gross. We never clean our bathroom or the kitchen. We never clean the stove after we cooked as well so there are like marks on the stove top that you can't get rid of. There's a hole in the bathroom ceiling from when water leak but the landlord never fixed, so I think he only inspected the rooms that people moved out and not the whole house. People were still living at house while I move out, because my roommate found three other people to live with. My roommate renew a lease and is asking me to pay her deposit because the landlord is asking for a new deposit.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    98,846

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    If the only charges the landlord has identified as a basis for making deductions from the deposit are for the $2,500 in damage you caused to your room, it doesn't matter a lick what you think the landlord might have done if you hadn't trashed your room. Your roommates are allowed to point to the facts -- what the landlord is actually doing -- and if all damages are attributable to you then they are entitled to recover money that they are effectively being forced to pay to cover the damage you caused.

    If the landlord is claiming $2,500 in damages, unless they weren't on the lease such that they cannot be held jointly liable, your roommates should also be concerned about being asked to cover the $700 in damages you caused above and beyond the security deposit.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Roommates Wants to Sue for Their Portions of Security Deposit

    How the heck does someone do 2500.00 worth of damage to a BEDROOM?

    New carpeting, new drywall, new paint and even new closet doors wouldn't add up to 2500.00.

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