My roommate (whom I thought was a good friend) just moved out of the apartment we were renting and now refuses to pay her share of the rent. We both signed the lease, but the landlord wants me to make the entire rent payment. Can I really be forced to pay my ex-roommate’s portion of the rent?
It depends on your lease, but most likely the answer is yes. Your landlord can hold you responsible for the entire amount of the rent, because, as a general rule, by signing the lease, you agreed to be responsible for the entire rental payment. This is one reason why landlords usually encourage as many people as possible to sign the lease: It gives them more options with which to recover unpaid rent.
You should look at your lease to see if it contains a clause stating that you are only responsible for partial payment of the rental amount. These clauses, however, are extremely rare. You may want to contact your landlord to try to work something out. Another practical option is to try to find another roommate (subject to the landlord’s consent). If you do pay all the rent, you may want to consider bringing a separate claim against the roommate who moved out to recover her share of the rent.
You also may want to consider entering into a brief written agreement with future roommates in order to avoid these kinds of problems. For example, the Austin Tenants’ Council has a standard form contract for roommates called the Renting Together Contract. This contract sets out some basic agreements between roommates, including payment of the security deposit, rent, bills, and what happens when a tenant moves out early. Take a look at the Austin Tenants’ Council website to get a copy of the Renting Together Contract: www.housing-rights.org/forms/renting_together.pdf.
The moral of this question is clear: Choose your roommates with caution when signing a lease!
This article appears in August 31 • 2007.