Roomate skipped town. What recourse do I have?

[maxthenerd]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

Myself and two others have been renting a house since January. All three of us are on the lease. Early in May, one roomate lost his job, and told us he would like to move back to CA to live with his parents. He assured us at the time that he would continue to pay rent and utilities until we found a suitible replacement. A few days later, he skipped town without telling us. He finally contacted us a couple of days ago and he says he has no intention of paying any rent or utilites.

What recourse do I have? As I said, he is on the lease. We only had a verbal agreement about paying a third of the utilites. We are pretty sure we know where he is in case we need to serve him papers.What is the name of your state?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[maxthenerd]

Addendum:

I also though I should mention that he took his key and garage remote with him, and is refusing to return them. This is going to force us to pay for the house to be re-keyed and new garage remotes (as per the lease).

 

[Who's Liable?]

You and your roommate will need to continue paying the full amount of rent until the lease has been satisfied... You will also need to advertise for the room, and if you get no leads, you can sue your roommate for his cost of the lease, as well as the cost of the remote...

Does he still live in AZ? If so, you can send him a CRR letter stating your position and his need to continue paying rent. If he does not sign or the letter comes back undelivered, you can use that in a court of law in AZ as proof that he indeed did recieve the letter. AZ has a statute that deems a letter "delivered" on the 5th day after it was sent REGARDLESS of signature. As long as the address you are sending it to is the registered place of business or is in their name...

 

[maxthenerd]

You and your roommate will need to continue paying the full amount of rent until the lease has been satisfied... You will also need to advertise for the room, and if you get no leads, you can sue your roommate for his cost of the lease, as well as the cost of the remote...

So do I need to wait until the end of the lease before I can sue him?

 

[Who's Liable?]

Yes... but in waiting for that, get your ducks in a row... Keep copies of ALL the letters you send him, and ONLY send them CRR. It will cost about $4.20 a pop(not a joint) but it will help you in the long run. If he still lives in AZ, look up the phone recording laws, as I believe in AZ you do NOT have to notify the 2nd party you are reording the phone conversation.