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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    1

    Default Suing All Lease Holders

    My question involves a roommate in the State of: Ohio

    I have two roommates. During our stay in our apartment myself and one roommate paid on time. I did not know the other roommate wasn't paying until we moved out and the landlord told me he was keeping our security deposit as rent owed for the third. Now he says he may sue us for the rent she owes, a total of $2900, not including court costs. All three of our names were on the lease, but she was the only one that didn't pay. He says he has to sue us all because we rented as a "unit". Is this correct and is there any way a judge an make us pay her share if we can prove we paid? Or do we have to pay the rent and then take her to small claims?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Suing All Lease Holders

    Is this correct and is there any way a judge an make us pay her share if we can prove we paid?
    No. Each of you are jointly and severally liable for the rent. He could actually sue only one of you (any one) for the entire amount owed. The group owed the LL the total rent, not each party of the group owing their share.


    Or do we have to pay the rent and then take her to small claims?
    yes

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    15

    Default Re: Suing All Lease Holders

    This is somewhat late, but a few things:

    1) Check to see if your lease says something about "joint and several" liability. I've seen some leases, especially in student housing, that do not make you liable for rent owed by roommates. They are rare though.

    2) There may be an argument for 'waiver' if your landlord continuously accepted the rent payment without objection even though it was not the full amount owed. The idea is that the landlord was under an obligation to notify you that the full amount of rent was not being paid, especially if he was accepting multiple checks for the same unit (ie you all paid separately). By not telling you that less than the full amount was being paid (and beginning the eviction process and/or notifying you that rent was owed), he 'waived' his right to collect that payment. You would probably need an attorney to be able to raise this argument since it is technical, but it's worth considering, especially considering the amount of money involved here. Some cities have free landlord/tenant legal help, and there's also The Legal Aid Society if you don't have a lot of money.

    Good luck, hopefully you read this in time or it helps the next person in a similar situation.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Behind a Desk
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    98,846

    Default Re: Suing All Lease Holders

    The third roommate stopped paying at some time during the course of the lease? Or she didn't pay at all?

    If the landlord sues all three of you, what you would normally do, rather than bringing a later small claims action, is to bring a cross-claim against the third roommate stating that if you are found responsible to pay rent she should have to indemnify you. That doesn't stop the landlord from pursuing you for the money he's owed, but it does avoid the need to start another court case - and the risk that the judge in that case will toss it as an issue that should have been resolved in the landlord's suit.

    The waiver argument is clever, but I wouldn't count on a judge being convinced by it. I would be interested in learning about any case, even from a different state, where a judge found a waiver under similar facts.

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