What is the name of your state? Rhode Island
I'm currently a student at a university and was living in an off campus house with one other roommate. Our school has cancelled in person classes for the remainder of the semester. So, with no obligation tying me to the place, I decided to move back home & finish my classes remotely from there. However, my roommate has a job there and is therefore staying until the end of the semester. Our realtor sent an email out to us along with all their tenants, basically saying that whether or not we wanted to move out or stay was up to us. Now, our rent is semesterly so I've already paid my portion for the rest of the semester. However, utilities are not included as we had to set up & pay for them ourselves. The only thing mentioning utilities in our lease states that "tenant is responsible for paying for and setting up all utilities." Nothing else. It doesn't state how we split it up the payment, just that it gets paid, and my roommate and I never made a separate agreement for how we were going to pay. Am I still legally and financially responsible for paying the utilities since I've moved out? I've already moved out all my stuff and turned in my key, so I couldn't even go into the house and use the utilities even if I wanted to. 2 out of the 3 we pay for are fixed prices, and I originally said the ones with the fixed prices I'd help pay a little because I understand they're fixed, but I also said that with the impression I could go back to my job once I moved home (they closed down indefinitely). I just don't have the money to pay for a place I'm not living in anymore (I still feel bad for leaving her like this, and if I had the money & stable income right now I'd be paying). So am I responsible for paying still? Could she legally do anything?
Sorry for the length - just wanted to get all the information out there!
I'm currently a student at a university and was living in an off campus house with one other roommate. Our school has cancelled in person classes for the remainder of the semester. So, with no obligation tying me to the place, I decided to move back home & finish my classes remotely from there. However, my roommate has a job there and is therefore staying until the end of the semester. Our realtor sent an email out to us along with all their tenants, basically saying that whether or not we wanted to move out or stay was up to us. Now, our rent is semesterly so I've already paid my portion for the rest of the semester. However, utilities are not included as we had to set up & pay for them ourselves. The only thing mentioning utilities in our lease states that "tenant is responsible for paying for and setting up all utilities." Nothing else. It doesn't state how we split it up the payment, just that it gets paid, and my roommate and I never made a separate agreement for how we were going to pay. Am I still legally and financially responsible for paying the utilities since I've moved out? I've already moved out all my stuff and turned in my key, so I couldn't even go into the house and use the utilities even if I wanted to. 2 out of the 3 we pay for are fixed prices, and I originally said the ones with the fixed prices I'd help pay a little because I understand they're fixed, but I also said that with the impression I could go back to my job once I moved home (they closed down indefinitely). I just don't have the money to pay for a place I'm not living in anymore (I still feel bad for leaving her like this, and if I had the money & stable income right now I'd be paying). So am I responsible for paying still? Could she legally do anything?
Sorry for the length - just wanted to get all the information out there!
