Sometimes the legal system is just crazy!
By reinydawn
@reinydawn (11643)
United States
May 8, 2012 6:23am CST
About 8 or 9 years ago, my son moved out and got an apartment with some friends. One of his friends was caught breaking into some cars so all 3 of them were evicted. My son paid his 3rd of the remaining rent, but now he's being sued for the rest of it. Since all 3 were on the lease, each person is responsible if the others don't pay. We've been trying to get this worked out, but he now has to go to court. My lawyer friend that I have talked to said that he may be able to make it go away since my son didn't do anything wrong to break the lease, but was kicked out anyways. I'm hoping this will work out because his only recourse if it doesn't is to pay the balance (which he doesn't have) and turn around and sue the other two "friends".
Did you ever share an apartment with someone and it turned out bad? Did you have to pay for someone elses mistakes?
2 people like this
5 responses
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
8 May 12
My daughter shared an apartment with a friend who actually was the primary tenent as my daughter moved in with her after she'd been living there for some time. Because my daughter quickly learned how lame this girl was with her bills and whatnot, my daughter made sure that when she paid the rent, she paid her half with a separate check and so the landlord always knew that she was paying HER half. When it all went bust, there was no question at all that she'd paid her fair share. If your son can prove that he paid his share then there is a good chance that he may be able to get out of this. I don't see how they can go after your son and not the other two as well.
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
16 May 12
Back when all this happened, my son was the only one that left a forwarding address - yeah, I taught him some morals. They are also going after the other two friends, but I don't know that the information they have is current. Hopefully, my friend can make it all go away.
@ShyBear88 (59283)
• Sterling, Virginia
8 May 12
Me and my husband share our apartment with my husband's cousin she has tried to move out but we told her she can't because by law she has to fill her agreement of living out her lease agreement unless she has about $3,000 to pay for everyones rent to move out which she doesn't when she lost her job. When it comes to lease agreements they do not care if one person breaks it or all break the lease. that is why it's important if things fall through that you get another paper work saying which person pays what half because when you sign a lease they do not section off who pays what and how much so they can not just go after one person they have to go after all till the money is paid. So if a person can not pay in full they need to work that out with office that you had rented from.
Yes we have had to pay our husband cousin share of late fees and not paying her half of the rent and thankfully some of our family was able to help us so we didn't have to use all of our money to pay for the rent which is $1,030
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
16 May 12
Yeah, it's probably harder when it's family that you're living with. It's so hard when someone doesn't pay their share.
@ShyBear88 (59283)
• Sterling, Virginia
16 May 12
I think it's hard either way. We are trying to get out of apartments and into a home as soon as we can before our second baby come. It's just not far having little kids and keeping moving them around to apartment to apartment. When one roommate isn't really holding up there end it makes it a bit more easier to say we need a house.
@Outcast (632)
• United States
8 May 12
That is just wrong. The legal system is messed up. The bad part is I think it has gone on to long that it may never be able to fix. I have never shared an apartment with anyone, I am glad because I am always hearing these kind of stories. Best of luck to your son. Hopefully he can get out of this without having to put up any more money that I know is very hard to come by now a days.
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
16 May 12
Yeah, I shared an apartment with someone once and although I only lost a small TV out of it, it still didn't end up good. I don't know what it was about living with people, but it really messes things up!
@Cutie18f (9551)
• Philippines
8 May 12
So that's the thing when our kids get into bad company. It should be a lesson for your son never again to mess around with people like that. No, I had never had that experience before. Did they sign any contract on that lease? If so, then, there must be the three of them responsible so he can't be held entirely responsible for it.
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
16 May 12
Yup, they're all 3 on the lease. Unfortunately, my son didn't know this other guy was breaking into cars. It's a real shame too, because they aren't friends any more!
@killercoky2012 (5)
• China
8 May 12
i've never shared and apartment just because i've heard of many of this kind of cases. maybe our legal system HAS not so well "evaluated"
1 person likes this
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
16 May 12
I just remembered that I did have another roommate once - my first roommate. Everything was in her name, I was just splitting the expenses with her. That was a very good arrangement, and we were both responsible enough to pay our share!
