My roommate and I have a roommate who has not paid her rent for this month (Jan). She is rarely in the apartment and the roommate and I have rented from the landlord for the past two years and do not want to move from our apartment. We also have a close personal relationship with him and his family. The other roommate moved in with us this summer through a roommate finder website. The landlord came to us and said since he has such a great relationship with us and wants to keep us as tenants he wanted to simply begin eviction notice against the deliquent roommate. Legally this isn't possible. Technically only I and my other roommate are on the lease (we are the only ones to sign). He has accepted her portion of the rent directly from her though. I was able to track her down at her work and she said she simply had been out of town for work and not able to pay. She hasn't stopped by tonight as she said she would, so I doubt this. All of her things are still here. The roommate and I have decided to pay her portion at the end of the week if we don't receive it. However, if she does not pay her portion of the rent, can we (the roommates) evict her and go to small claims court to find another sublesser? Might we end our lease with the landlord leaving her on it (and the eviction for non-payment) and start a new lease with him? Hopefully this will all work out and it's a misunderstanding, but I want to know my options.

