Roommate Security Deposit Issue

[berr7681]

I recently ended a one year co-signed lease at a residential apartment complex. Myself and my roommate lived in the apartment for the first 8 months, then, as we had planned from the start, I moved out of state. My roommate was then supposed to stay and find a replacement, but he also moved out. Reluctantly, I agreed to let his sister and her boyfriend move in for the remainder of the lease (without the knowledge of the landlord - I know, not smart). As I feared, the apartment was left in rough shape.
We were charged $800+ dollars for damages, most of which was covered by the security deposit - I paid the rest to meet the due date.
I'm afraid that I won't be able to get my former roommate and his sister to pay their share. Moreover, I feel that I should not be responsible for ANY of the damages. They were the ones who caused the damage and, on top of that, it would have been worse if I hadn't spent several days cleaning and repairing the apartment before we turned in the keys. I can easily find witnesses who could attest to this.
Is there any way I can hold my former roommate and his sister responsible for all or at least part of the damage costs, or am I going to be stuck with this bill?

 

[FarmerJ]

Best you can hope for is a claim in small claims court hopefully the Judge will hear you out , if the others admit to occupying the unit as verbal sublease . Who did they pay the rent to while they were in the unit ?

 

[berr7681]

Rent was paid to me (when I could coax it out of them), then I or my former roommate paid the landlord.

 

[JETX]

As you are probably aware, you face LOTS of problems here:
1) As the lease holder, YOU are responsible for any and all rent and damages that occur during your lease period.... even if you are not there.
2) By allowing someone else to live in your place (especially without any written agreement), you have made yourself completely responsible for THEIR actions. Not unlike giving someone free access to your credit cards!!
3) And since you have NO written agreement with these 'sub-lessors', you will have a much harder (if not impossible) job trying to collect from them or trying to get a judgment against them.

In summary, I agree with Farmer in that your only probable recourse is going to be court..... and your success there will be contingent on your ability to prove that they were liable for the damages and any unpaid rent.

 

[berr7681]

Thankyou for the responses, but what I would really like to know is to what extent my former roommate is responsible for damages. We were cosigners on the original lease, and some of the damages that we were charged for were caused entirely by him. Is he only legally responsible for 50% of the damages or can I take the case to small claims to hold him financially responsible for exactly the damages that were caused by him?

Thankyou

 

[dankk]

This is where a judge wold have to sort this out, your co-signer is ALSO responsible for 100% of the damages.

The landlord doesnt care who pays just so long as it GETS PAID.

If you think he should pay 100% then you have to sue him in court, present your evidence that there was no damage when you moved out, and that it was all caused by him.