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Do I have a case here: sue subleaser for backing out

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Tingc

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

I have a subleaser who backed out at the last minute leaving me less than 10 days to find another subleaser and causing me to pay for 2 apartments because after her request to move in early, I agreed and found another place. Can I take this case to small claim court and possibly get the 3 months rent? I have documents (text messages) of her request and my clear statement saying "I can move out early if someone takes over for the summer, otherwise I can move out August" August is the end of my lease. I believe my statement clearly stated that if there is a subleaser for the summer, I can move out. She said yes and requested me to move out in May. Would this be enough evidence?
I am overly stressed over this situation because I cannot afford to pay for 2 apartments. I also have evidence from her saying the reason why she backed out is because she hasn't found someone for her Apt yet. Which is her issue, not mine. But because of this, she'll cost me extra 330 a month. I tried talking with her to come to a solution but it seems impossible so I'm hoping to take it to court and get the money back.

Thanks
 


justalayman

Senior Member
I have documents (text messages) of her request and my clear statement saying "I can move out early if someone takes over for the summer, otherwise I can move out August" August is the end of my lease. I believe my statement clearly stated that if there is a subleaser for the summer, I can move out. She said yes and requested me to move out in May. Would this be enough evidence?
s

color me confused. Why would you be looking for a subtenant if your lease was expiring in Aug and that is when you were intending on moving at that time?
 

Tingc

Junior Member
color me confused. Why would you be looking for a subtenant if your lease was expiring in Aug and that is when you were intending on moving at that time?
My original intent was to move out August. I knew in a college town looking for a sublease is not very likely. The original intent was to find someone to fill in my room for August. After she said she is interested I asked when she wants to move in. And that is when we started talking about May. At her request, I agreed to let her move in early and so I went on an apt hunt for myself. Because like i said, finding an apt in the summer is much easier than finding a subleaser. Every was agreed upon March 25th, I received a message April 23rd saying she doesn't want to move in May anymore and I asked her about rent and she is refusing to pay for it ( the May, June, July rent). I think the only way is to take it to court. I've tried talking with her.

What do you guys think? Thank you. I really need advice on what to do.

P.S. for that apt, I did not sign for next years lease, which is starting August. So whatever happens after August is non of my concern. My main concern is this summer.
 

Tingc

Junior Member
Do you have a signed rental agreement with the prospective tenant?
Unfortunately, I don't have anything signed from her. She is a friend's friend so I never expected something like this to happen. All I have are her messages to me. We mostly communicated through messages, not much on phone. The only time we had chatted on the phone we talked about carpet cleaning (which i had intended on getting done before her moving in) and rent. For that chat I told her the rent is 330 a month. I figure from there it's cleared.

By taking this to small claims court, I'm hoping to get some light on this. I want justice and fairness. I would not have putted myself in a situation where i have to pay for 2 apartments.
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
P.S. for that apt, I did not sign for next years lease, which is starting August. So whatever happens after August is non of my concern. My main concern is this summer.
exactly my point. Why would you be looking for somebody to take over the apartment if you had intended on staying there until your lease expired?


The reason I am asking is; if the tenant was just as confused as I, maybe there was a misunderstanding with her as well.

Without reading all of the communications, it is impossible to say if you had made a contract or not (and no, do not post them). You might have a case. One big problem I see is; Since she was not scheduled to move in until may, you have not actually been damaged yet. You are required to attempt to mitigate your damages as well. Have you attempted to re-rent the apartment since she cancelled out?
 

Tingc

Junior Member
exactly my point. Why would you be looking for somebody to take over the apartment if you had intended on staying there until your lease expired?


The reason I am asking is; if the tenant was just as confused as I, maybe there was a misunderstanding with her as well.

Without reading all of the communications, it is impossible to say if you had made a contract or not (and no, do not post them). You might have a case. One big problem I see is; Since she was not scheduled to move in until may, you have not actually been damaged yet. You are required to attempt to mitigate your damages as well. Have you attempted to re-rent the apartment since she cancelled out?
"Why would you be looking for somebody to take over the apartment if you had intended on staying there until your lease expired"
I did no postings for summer sublease because my original plan was to stay untill August, untill my roommates found her. I had communicated with her and basically said, for her convinience, perhaps she is a student who lives in dorms, that if she wants to move in early, I can move out early. Students who lives in dorms often tries to find a summer sublease. I figured if I do this, she wouldn't have to move twice. Perhaps I'm too naive for offering this.

I have been putting up posting about summer sublease every since she has backed out from it. I would much rather have found someone to actually sublease the apt and thus preventing this from going to court. I have friends looking for me as well. It has been very stressful. I have also told her I have people trying to help me and fix this. I also told her if nothing comes up and she is unwilling to pay, I will have no choice but have a higher power maker her pay up.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
small claims courts are generally pretty cheap. The worst that is going to happen is you lose. If you have enough proof there was a rental contract made, you should win.
 

Tingc

Junior Member
exactly my point. Why would you be looking for somebody to take over the apartment if you had intended on staying there until your lease expired?


The reason I am asking is; if the tenant was just as confused as I, maybe there was a misunderstanding with her as well.

Without reading all of the communications, it is impossible to say if you had made a contract or not (and no, do not post them). You might have a case. One big problem I see is; Since she was not scheduled to move in until may, you have not actually been damaged yet. You are required to attempt to mitigate your damages as well. Have you attempted to re-rent the apartment since she cancelled out?
Im sorry perhaps i didn't answer your first question. I am looking for a summer sublease now because I have another lease for May. After she told me to move out in May, I started looking for a place to transition over. It's also a sublease, till July, thats when i move into my new apartment (signed, documented, can't back out of). The sublease that I took is from a friend, she won't be in the town for the summer so I asked her if I can stay at her place since the girl wants to move in early. So I subleased my friends apartment. Which i don't think i should back out of, I like to keep my words, I don't her to be in the situation that I'm in. I have told her about my apartment situation and she is helping with finding a sublease for my apartment.

I'm sorry about the confusion. So if no subleaser is found for summer, I will be responsible for 2 apartments.
 

Tingc

Junior Member
small claims courts are generally pretty cheap. The worst that is going to happen is you lose. If you have enough proof there was a rental contract made, you should win.
The only problem is that I'm not sure if text messages count as "rental contracts" They are said and sent from her but nothing signed on paper. The evidences I have are her saying she wants to move in May and asked me to move out May, I said okay. We ended there for March. (the basics)
Then in April she sent me a reason why she can't move in May, which is her own apartment issue, I did not know about her living situation at the time. I believe her reason is VERY much her own issue. She should still be responsible for my or her suppose to be apartment.

Thank you again for your reply.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
You're not going to get anywhere based only on that. There is a lot more to a lease then simply the move in day and the amount of the rent. Since you only had an agreement on those two things, she can legitimately claim there was no meeting of the minds on all the other terms that go into a lease.
 

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