Stuck with Ex-roommates bills

[arieswitch]

I am in Nevada. I shared an apartment with a friend. In July we moved to seperate housing. We were each notified by our ex-landlord that we owed him $1200.00 for cleaning and damages. My ex-roommate sent the landlord a payment agreement advising how much and when each of us would pay our half of the charges on 08/14/01. She signed my name and her own but failed to share with me what arrangements she had made. The landlord contacted me when I failed to pay on the day my roommate specified so I made new arrangements and made a payment to him. He then sent me a letter stating that I was responsible for the entire $1200.00 because my roommate was not paying. I called her and was advised that she had filed bankruptcy against our landlord on 08/23/01. Now I am stuck with the entire bill. Can I sue her for the half that I am now stuck with? She did not file against me although when I told her I would take her to court she had her bankruptcy lawyer send me a letter stating she had filed. It was post marked 10/19/01 and the hearing for creditors to appear had already passed 09/27/01.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

I am in Nevada. I shared an apartment with a friend. In July we moved to seperate housing. We were each notified by our ex-landlord that we owed him $1200.00 for cleaning and damages. My ex-roommate sent the landlord a payment agreement advising how much and when each of us would pay our half of the charges on 08/14/01. She signed my name and her own but failed to share with me what arrangements she had made. The landlord contacted me when I failed to pay on the day my roommate specified so I made new arrangements and made a payment to him. He then sent me a letter stating that I was responsible for the entire $1200.00 because my roommate was not paying. I called her and was advised that she had filed bankruptcy against our landlord on 08/23/01. Now I am stuck with the entire bill. Can I sue her for the half that I am now stuck with? She did not file against me although when I told her I would take her to court she had her bankruptcy lawyer send me a letter stating she had filed. It was post marked 10/19/01 and the hearing for creditors to appear had already passed 09/27/01.

My response:

No.

The debt was not owed to you. The debt was, and still is, owed to the landlord. You owe the whole debt because both of you signed the lease, and by you doing so, you agreed to be "jointly and severally" liable to the landlord for the entire amount - - regardless of what happened to your roommate. If the shoe were on the other foot, it would be your roommate who would be stuck with the entire debt owing to the landlord.

Because of the Bankruptcy, your former roommate is now out of the picture, and the entire debt now falls onto your shoulders.

IAAL