what do i do next?

i had a roommate. i left the apartment due to unsafe circumstances, pretty much. they had friends that "needed a place to stay for the weekend" and the weekend turned into DAYS and there was drugs being brought into the apartment, ect. i didn't approve of the people staying for days and i told the roommate about it, they would never make the unwanted people leave, kept pushing up the day for them to finally leave. i don't know the people, they barely know/knew them so i was very uncomfortable with having them there with neither of us home. the only option i had was to leave for fear of relaliation if had involved the police or the landlord...they knew where i worked, knew when i was home, ect...anything could happen to my belongings and car. so i left. of course the roommate refused to get me signed off the lease and their new roommates were unable to sign on the lease. for 2 months after i left they all stayed, paid rent and bills until they all quit their jobs (before the 2 unwanted ones got a job, they made money "other ways".). huge parties were had, parties that were apparently advertised on the internet. the police even came to the apartment and charged the roommate with drug charges. so you see, it was completely a good idea for me to leave when i did...i would have been caught up in all of this going on after i left.

eventually everyone got evicted, 3 months after i had moved out. and now the "bill" has come. the carpet is damaged along with the floor underneath due to pet urine and the apt. needs repainted...i don't feel i should have to pay this, the apt. was new when we moved in. i also don't feel i should have to pay what's left of the year's rent because i moved out due to unsafe conditions that the roommate created. where do i start? who do i contact? is there really anything i can do about all of this?

exroommateissue said:

where do i start? who do i contact? is there really anything i can do about all of this?

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Simply, you screwed up by breaching your lease... so you are pretty much hung with this one. Good news though... you can file a lawsuit against your roommate(s) and try to recover the moneys you had to pay due to THEIR actions against you....

what if i have proof that the enviroment was unsafe? the people my roommate moved in were illegally living there, there is only 2 people allowed to occupy those apartments, there was 4 and even after i left there was 4 because they moved in another person. and what if i have proof of the apartment getting busted by the police and the roommate getting charged with possession, ect? (i was NOT living there at the time of all of that)? i know i can take the exroommate to small claims court for the fee owed on the apartment 'cause i think i can prove that if it wasn't for the unwanted people getting moved in i would have stayed there until the end of lease.

exroommateissue said:

what if i have proof that the enviroment was unsafe? the people my roommate moved in were illegally living there, there is only 2 people allowed to occupy those apartments, there was 4 and even after i left there was 4 because they moved in another person. and what if i have proof of the apartment getting busted by the police and the roommate getting charged with possession, ect? (i was NOT living there at the time of all of that)? i know i can take the exroommate to small claims court for the fee owed on the apartment 'cause i think i can prove that if it wasn't for the unwanted people getting moved in i would have stayed there until the end of lease.

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The problem you have is YOU allowed the non-tenants to be there. You had an equal obligation to abide by your lease... and to resolve the dispute with YOUR co-lessee.
You didn't.... and left instead.

i went to the police, they said since my roommate and i were on the lease there's nothing they can do, i'll have to talk to thte landlord. i talked to the landlord and they said they'd have to prove the unwanted people are actually living there...they have to recieve mail there or something to physically prove they are LIVING there. and if it went to court the landlord told me the unwanted people could tell the judge they left for a day or so (stayed at a hotel or what have you) and weren't living there on a consistant basis. if by chance they were able to evict the unwanted people it would take 30+ days. i had to leave, i had no choice. it's a good thing i did because it wasn't long after that the apartment got raided and the roommate got drug charges. so even though the unwanted people had moved in their things (tv, clothes, ect) the landlord kept telling me there was nothing they could really do.

all i want to know is if i have enough evidence to win a small claims court case and have the ex-roommate pay either the entire bill (personally i think they should have to pay it all since it was me that paid the entire deposit, ect to get into the apt 'cause they had no money to start with and it was me that paid an entire month's rent, and me that bought the furnishings with the verbal agreement that they would pay half as soon as their job got going) for the apartment or atleast be ordered to pay half plus the damage to the floors THEIR dog did. the landlord said we're both responsible so if the roommate wants to just throw their bill away and never pay a penny then i'm stuck paying it all if i start making payments on it.

exroommateissue said:

i went to the police, they said since my roommate and i were on the lease there's nothing they can do, i'll have to talk to thte landlord. i talked to the landlord and they said they'd have to prove the unwanted people are actually living there...they have to recieve mail there or something to physically prove they are LIVING there. and if it went to court the landlord told me the unwanted people could tell the judge they left for a day or so (stayed at a hotel or what have you) and weren't living there on a consistant basis. if by chance they were able to evict the unwanted people it would take 30+ days. i had to leave, i had no choice. it's a good thing i did because it wasn't long after that the apartment got raided and the roommate got drug charges. so even though the unwanted people had moved in their things (tv, clothes, ect) the landlord kept telling me there was nothing they could really do.

all i want to know is if i have enough evidence to win a small claims court case and have the ex-roommate pay either the entire bill (personally i think they should have to pay it all since it was me that paid the entire deposit, ect to get into the apt 'cause they had no money to start with and it was me that paid an entire month's rent, and me that bought the furnishings with the verbal agreement that they would pay half as soon as their job got going) for the apartment or atleast be ordered to pay half plus the damage to the floors THEIR dog did. the landlord said we're both responsible so if the roommate wants to just throw their bill away and never pay a penny then i'm stuck paying it all if i start making payments on it.

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Look, everything you have been told is true. The landlord could not do anything, the Police could not do anything. You did leave, that was good for self-preservation against any involvement in the drugs, but you did leave your leased apartment in the hands of those troublemakers.

You can only argue your side of the story, and we can't say how strong your case is. You can only say you were not there to do the damage. That however does not magically take your signature off the lease and make you not liable.

Sorry it is not what you want to hear but it what it is.

What State is this?

missouri.

we both have the same bill, same amount that has to be paid...that whole thing about if i start making payments and they never pay a penny and the bill collectors coming after me for not paying the half the ex-roommate should pay...that true to? should i be able to have it ordered that the ex-roommate pay half of the bill? i know if i say "hey, why don't you pay half like you should an i pay half" they'll be like "hell no" so it'll have to be ordered from a judge and fixed to where i'm not liable for their unpaid half.

exroommateissue said:

missouri.

we both have the same bill, same amount that has to be paid...that whole thing about if i start making payments and they never pay a penny and the bill collectors coming after me for not paying the half the ex-roommate should pay...that true to? should i be able to have it ordered that the ex-roommate pay half of the bill? i know if i say "hey, why don't you pay half like you should an i pay half" they'll be like "hell no" so it'll have to be ordered from a judge and fixed to where i'm not liable for their unpaid half.

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I would try to get seperate judgements if it was possible.

separate judgements?

exroommateissue said:

separate judgements?

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You said that everybody got evicted. This means you too. The judge made a judgement for the landlord. Any monies that were to be paid were deemed payable to the landlord.

You probably did not fight the eviction, because you were busy getting the heck outta dodge, so you could not be there and ask for seperate judgements.

I would have asked for that, I would have known I was liable.


But you are correct, now you are " jointly and severally liable" for the bill, he can turn away and make you pay. I did not mean to give you false hope, you are again too late to rectify that past.


At this point you can try to get whatever is recoverable if you can get blood from a stoner, by suing him in small claims court.

there hasn't been any court up to this point. the rest of the people (the roommate and the people not on the lease) all got evicted 3 months after i left. the landlord knew i was already gone for months.

"eviction"= "court"

i've never been to court. i wasn't in the apartment when my roommate and their illegal roommates were kicked out (they stopped paying rent, quit their jobs). as far as i know they've never been to court either.

exroommateissue said:

i've never been to court. i wasn't in the apartment when my roommate and their illegal roommates were kicked out (they stopped paying rent, quit their jobs). as far as i know they've never been to court either.

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Well if you say they were "evicted" I think they went to court. If you say they were kicked out, that is a whole different ball game.

The thing is, you are on the hook for this. If they do decide not to pay because they just don't give a hoot about their credit, you are still on the hook.

This is a terrible lesson to have to learn about who to chose to live with. I do feel sorry for you but I am sure that is no consolation.

the letter/bill from the landlord says the reason for leaving is eviction, as far as court goes, i haven't heard anything about that and until the day i got this notice the landlord didn't have a new address for the roommate, i let the landlord know where to reach them at and an identical letter was supposed to be sent to the roommate. i do plan on trying to atleast get half of this fee from them, it's only fair that they pay half (even though i feel they should have to pay the entire balance because everything that happened was because of them). i have proof that the damages were done after i left (and by their dog nonetheless. there's an estimate from a carpet place with the bill stating the damage is due to pet urine all over) and i have proof that these people were living there and proof that the roommate now has drug charges from the apt. being raided (2 months after i was gone).

it is a terrible lesson to learn. i'll never have another roommate again, it's not worth it. just proves you can't trust anyone.