Fairfield, Jefferson County, IA
Ok, I am 22 years old and have little to no legal experience.
I signed a 1-year lease beginning September 1, 2008. At the beginning of March, 2009 I moved out and found a tenant to take over the remainder of the lease. At the time, I received the rent payment ($425) for the month of March, but was a little lenient (too lenient I now realize) on getting the security deposit and never have gotten it. Basically, he said he would get it to me in a week, came up with excuses and it turned into several weeks. For some time now, he hasn't answered my phone calls and is rarely home.
I wrote up a crude contract saying he was responsible for the rent payment (and the $300 deposit) through August and had him sign it. The landlord wasn't much help in finding a sub-lease so the original lease agreement is still in my name, and I am screwed if this guy doesn't pay.
The situation has gotten worse. I get a call from the landlord on April 8 saying the new tenant hasn't paid rent for the month of April yet. The landlord then actually gets a hold of him and he says he will pay it on Saturday (Apr 11), but that didn't happen.
I stop by today and actually get to talk to the wife. I have a note basically saying that I can/will take legal action and give them until Wednesday to pay or there will be an eviction notice. This is when she informs me that they are moving (I wonder if they were ever going to tell anybody?). She says she has no idea how they will come up with the money by Wednesday (over two weeks late), so I'm going to guess it won't get paid.
I'm young and don't have a lot of extra cash, but plan on paying the rent on Friday if I don't get anything from them to avoid legal issues with the landlord (who is a police officer btw).
If it comes to that (which is likely at this point I think), I'm guessing I would have to sue them in small claims court, which seems like a big pain in the A. Would I be suing for the entirety of the contract that I wrote up (April-August = $2,125)? If they do move out, I would probably have to find another person to take over the apartment so how does that factor into their breaching of the contract?
Any other advice is greatly appreciated!
Ok, I am 22 years old and have little to no legal experience.
I signed a 1-year lease beginning September 1, 2008. At the beginning of March, 2009 I moved out and found a tenant to take over the remainder of the lease. At the time, I received the rent payment ($425) for the month of March, but was a little lenient (too lenient I now realize) on getting the security deposit and never have gotten it. Basically, he said he would get it to me in a week, came up with excuses and it turned into several weeks. For some time now, he hasn't answered my phone calls and is rarely home.
I wrote up a crude contract saying he was responsible for the rent payment (and the $300 deposit) through August and had him sign it. The landlord wasn't much help in finding a sub-lease so the original lease agreement is still in my name, and I am screwed if this guy doesn't pay.
The situation has gotten worse. I get a call from the landlord on April 8 saying the new tenant hasn't paid rent for the month of April yet. The landlord then actually gets a hold of him and he says he will pay it on Saturday (Apr 11), but that didn't happen.
I stop by today and actually get to talk to the wife. I have a note basically saying that I can/will take legal action and give them until Wednesday to pay or there will be an eviction notice. This is when she informs me that they are moving (I wonder if they were ever going to tell anybody?). She says she has no idea how they will come up with the money by Wednesday (over two weeks late), so I'm going to guess it won't get paid.
I'm young and don't have a lot of extra cash, but plan on paying the rent on Friday if I don't get anything from them to avoid legal issues with the landlord (who is a police officer btw).
If it comes to that (which is likely at this point I think), I'm guessing I would have to sue them in small claims court, which seems like a big pain in the A. Would I be suing for the entirety of the contract that I wrote up (April-August = $2,125)? If they do move out, I would probably have to find another person to take over the apartment so how does that factor into their breaching of the contract?
Any other advice is greatly appreciated!