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  1. #1
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    Oct 2009
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    Default Roommate Filing Lawsuit Against Me After She Moved Out

    My question involves a roommate in the State of: Indiana

    I moved in with a couple people who had an apartment already on lease. I was never put on the lease, never made a written agreement or had a verbal agreement with the other tenants, it was just assumed I would help pay things monthly. One of the roommates started stealing mine and the other roommates belonging including food, containers, soaps, anything she thought she could get away with. She never paid her rent in full or paid her full share of utilities, she would shorted us every month. She also brought people into the apartment that were previously evicted from the same place and was causing a hostile environment bringing these people over. She also had two guests urinate on our new couch both in the same night that we had to clean up. She would bring illegal drugs into the apartment daily and use in the apartment. The other roommate that is on the lease notified the landlord and the landlord filed for an eviction and told us to change the locks, after changing the locks the landlord is denying telling us that. The girl sueing me also called my place of employment slandering me making false accusations. She moved out on her own the day we changed the locks and now wants us to pay her rent for the next year, I have a court date in december. When she moved her stuff out her dad came with her and assaulted the other roommate and had a report filed against him. My question is does she have any claim against me or the other tenant? The landlord is putting this all on us and told us we need to get a lawyer. Sorry for all the info, wanted to try and cover everything.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Roommate Filing Lawsuit Against Me After She Moved Out

    Quote Quoting roommate101
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    My question involves a roommate in the State of: Indiana

    I moved in with a couple people who had an apartment already on lease. I was never put on the lease, never made a written agreement or had a verbal agreement with the other tenants, it was just assumed I would help pay things monthly.
    You know what they say about assuming....

    Moving you in without putting you on the lease was most likely a violation of the lease already in effect between the lease holder and the landlord. The law has protections built into it, but it requires that responsibilities, like putting people living in a unit on the lease, are done before those protections kick in. Your lease holder can't have it both ways.


    One of the roommates started stealing mine and the other roommates belonging including food, containers, soaps, anything she thought she could get away with. She never paid her rent in full or paid her full share of utilities, she would shorted us every month.
    No, she shorted whoever was on the lease, and thus legally responsible for the bills each month. YOU were not on the lease. If you chose to kick in extra money to keep everyone living there, that was mighty nice of you, but LEGALLY, this wasn't YOUR problem - it was a problem between the lease holder and the other roomie (again, probably a roomie living there in VIOLATION of the lease by not being on it).

    She also brought people into the apartment that were previously evicted from the same place and was causing a hostile environment bringing these people over.
    Being evicted from a place doesn't mean you can't go back to visit. It means you're no longer legally a tenant. That's it. To keep someone from coming back, a trespass warning is required, and a restraining order is preferable. This kind of thing happens when you have a bunch of people living together when several of them have no legal obligation or choose not to enforce any legal avenues they might have to keep "unwanted" persons from being brought over by other persons. They pretty much do what they want. The lease holder is apparantly an idiot.

    She also had two guests urinate on our new couch both in the same night that we had to clean up.
    Did you buy the couch? Was it yours? If not, then you had no obligation to clean it. (Just pointing out what the court is going to point out: you use "we" and "our" and "us" an awful lot for someone who wasn't on the lease. Again, LEGALLY, none of that was YOUR problem. If the couch was damaged, the owner of the couch can sue the person or persons who damaged it.)

    She would bring illegal drugs into the apartment daily and use in the apartment.
    What did the police do when you called them about this illegal activity? (Expect the judge to ask that exact same question.) If it was allowed to continue to happen at the time, the court isn't giong to be interested in hearing about it after the fact.

    The other roommate that is on the lease notified the landlord and the landlord filed for an eviction and told us to change the locks, after changing the locks the landlord is denying telling us that.
    Boy, this landlord sure must be a cuddly type - most landlords get sick very quickly of having to evict different people from the same unit over and over. But something here doesn't jibe - anyone staying there under the lease would be evicted by the landlord. Anyone staying there as a subtenant would generally need to be evicted by the leaseholder, who is their "landlord under the table", NOT by the landlord (since there was no contract).

    The girl sueing me also called my place of employment slandering me making false accusations.
    If you can prove damages, you can sue her for those damages.

    She moved out on her own the day we changed the locks and now wants us to pay her rent for the next year, I have a court date in december. When she moved her stuff out her dad came with her and assaulted the other roommate and had a report filed against him.
    Finally. That's the exact type of documentation that's needed for cases like this. Too bad it took until the end for it to happen. But again, you are a legal nobody when it comes to the payment of the lease to the landlord. That's the lease holder and only the lease holder's problem. The lease holder COULD sue you in court for any amounts they can prove that you owe. But if there's nothing in writing, good luck to them.

    My question is does she have any claim against me or the other tenant?
    She might have one against the lease holder or landlord if the locks were changed prior to a court ordered eviction. Legally, you're a nobody in the lease issue - it wasn't YOUR unit under lease to you. It depends on what HER side of the story is, which we don't have at this point.

    The landlord is putting this all on us
    It gets put on the leaseholder. You don't even have any kind of written agreement, much less a lease. The lease holder gets to have all the fun here.

    and told us we need to get a lawyer.
    Good advice. Tell the lease holder to contact one ASAP, and to STOP bringing people into their place without things IN WRITING and getting them on the lease where THEY can be held equally liable.

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