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Can ex-roommate sue me for rent THEY didn't pay, after I threw them out for threats?

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Miranova23

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I, signed along with my partner, rent an apartment in a large complex. We always need a roommate to help pay the bills. We also have a cat that might as well be our first born child.
And as of right now, there is no lock on my bedroom door. (I am now looking into changing that.)

We let this guy move in towards the end of April. He paid up front for the rest of April, and most of what was due for May.

Rent is late as of May 6th. I borrowed money from my parents to cover it all in time, for until he got me the rest of what he owed. But all day May 6th, he twisted his stories and numbers around. He didn't have it. I could have maybe waited til his payday-- normally.

See, only when the money issue came up, did my partner inform me that over the weekend while I was out, this roommate:
1. got blitz drunk
2. tore down a curtain & one of the hooks from the ceiling that was holding it
3. punched, kicked, and jumped on the mattress (we own all the furniture & leave the room furnished as most roommates are very short term interims)
4. threw a shoe at, which hit, our cat
5. verbally threatened to kill my partner
6. verbally threatened to kill our cat

My partner did not feel he was a truly a threat to himself, and did not want to lose his own temper or have me get upset for whatever he would have done, so he just calmed the roommate down. He was going to let it "slide," until I informed him that he didn't have the rest of the rent.

With our experiences combined now, neither of us felt safe leaving him alone with our cat, or even myself for that matter.

We threw him out that night. He civilly collected his things. Lots of arguing and yelling, but no contact. When I brought up about him threatening to kill my partner, and threatening to kill our cat, he merely scoffed at me. He actually called the police himself, but then finally gave us the keys & left before they got there.
We filed a report with the police since they were there anyway & needed to fill something out. I gave them his full name and birth date, as far as it's listed on facebook.

He still insists that he had a tenant's right to keep the full set of keys to get back into the apartment, until we paid him this $280 he says we owe him for May's rent since he did not stay.
He's been texting me about getting this money and is threatening to take us to small claims court.

I know that he of course had no right to keep access to my apartment since he had threatened to kill us, and I did indeed fear for our safety.
Should I go back over the money figurings-- I mean, if I kick someone out for threatening to kill me, could I possibly owe them any rent back? Plus he was just a roommate. Not my tenant, not even a sublet.

Also, should I get a restraining order? Does that cost me anything? What info do I need about him?
Thanks so much in advance!
 


BL

Senior Member
Yes he can sue.

If you want him permanently gone ,pay up with a signed and dated letter by him that upon receiving the sum of money he request he pd. for May ,he waives any further rights to legal tenancy.

You don't state what the police report says ,and you had no restraining order.
 

Miranova23

Junior Member
But he was just a roommate. I'm not his landlord. He obviously didn't sign into our lease with our complex, but still.

And like I said, there are no locks between us. "Illegal eviction?" I don't seriously believe that even a Philly police officer or any judge would expect me to leave someone in my apartment that was threatening to kill me. With access to my things, my bedroom, my cat-- hell, he could have killed us in our sleep!

The police report states that we threw him out because he was threatening to kill my partner and our cat. Those 2 cops didn't seem to take it lightly, either.

About the restraining order, I was asking IF I should or even could get one.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
I don't know why I thought this was in NY, which is much more tenant friendly than PA, but Philly is probably more tenant friendly than the rest of the state. Either way, he was paying you rent, you were most definitely his landlord. He wasn't renting from YOUR landlord, he was renting from you. So you were subject to landlord responsibilities.

You can take your chances and let him sue you, but I wouldn't say it's a slam dunk that he would lose.

You didn't even know about the threats until WAY after the fact, so I doubt that will get you very far.
 

BL

Senior Member
But he was just a roommate. I'm not his landlord. He obviously didn't sign into our lease with our complex, but still.

And like I said, there are no locks between us. "Illegal eviction?" I don't seriously believe that even a Philly police officer or any judge would expect me to leave someone in my apartment that was threatening to kill me. With access to my things, my bedroom, my cat-- hell, he could have killed us in our sleep!

The police report states that we threw him out because he was threatening to kill my partner and our cat. Those 2 cops didn't seem to take it lightly, either.

About the restraining order, I was asking IF I should or even could get one.
We threw him out that night. He civilly collected his things. Lots of arguing and yelling, but no contact. When I brought up about him threatening to kill my partner, and threatening to kill our cat, he merely scoffed at me. He actually called the police himself, but then finally gave us the keys & left before they got there.
We filed a report with the police since they were there anyway & needed to fill something out
You did not throw him out.He collected his things.He called the police but voluntarily gave you keys.

The police made a report because they were there.

You even said you were going to let the threats slide until rent wasn't pd. Now you are harping on it.

You were his landlord and he was a paying tenant.
 

Miranova23

Junior Member
Look, idk if anyone here is a lawyer or not like I was under the impression of, but I've been to court here in Philly with the same exact roommate set up. Only then, it was a "friend" that was signed on the lease, not me, and I was trying to get my portion of the security deposit back from the actual landlord, that I had kicked in when we all first moved in. (among other things, this issue was 1 of the money issues) All the people in first filing, negotiations, and 2 judges informed me that I would have to go after the landlord for that security deposit. Why? Because the ex-friend was just my roommate, not my landlord. It didn't matter that I handed it to her and she handed it to the landlord in her name. Roommates and landlord/tenants are completely different.
 

Miranova23

Junior Member
*my partner said that he was going to let it slide. He hadn't thought about it not being safe for the cat, or me either.

Once I told him about how the guy didn't have the rest of the rent, then he told me what had happened. And we took action that night. I wasn't concerned about the money he had owed for May anymore; I was concerned about keeping us safe.
 

Miranova23

Junior Member
& I said threw him out because while it did happen without violence, he was desperate about not wanting to leave. But he did anyway.
 

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