Rent /roommate issues...
Asuryan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I found a posting on the Craigslist for 2 people looking for a roommate. This was under the room/share section not sublet (I dont know if this will make a difference.) They were asking for 650 in rent. I assumed that the rent was split 3 way. Only one of them is on the lease for the apartment. Recently I learned the rent for the whole place is 1200, and both of them pay only 275. What rights do I have? What course of action should I or can I take? Thanks for all the help.
Asuryan on
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Failing that, it sounds like your options would be either A) find a new place to live or
Get the hell out if you aren't listed on the lease.
As a wise man once said, there isn't enough lime in the world for this statement.
If you have not signed onto the lease, pack your shit and go. These jerkoffs are screwing you six ways from Sunday and probably laughing about it behind your back. If I were you I wouldn't be able to leave that place fast enough.
For emphasis.
The question needs to be asked though, do you think it's worth paying $650 a month for? You should only pay what you think is fair for what you are renting. For all you know the owner could know the other two and give them a discount. Or they know that what they signed is way under the standard rental fee so they decided to sublet the third room out at a price that matches current markets. Really they could well just be entrepreneurial. As long as you are happy with what you are paying for it doesn't really matter.
Satans..... hints.....
Overall i think you're just getting shafted based on what you've told us. I'd start looking for a new place and chalk this up as a learning experience. You MAY have legal recourse if they attempt to hold this 'security deposit', but i'm no lawyer so you'd need seperate advice there.
It doesn't give you legal rights, but you don't need any for this situation because you have no legal responsibilities. Tell them you're splitting the rent three ways equally (unless you have a better room or something, which it doesn't seem like you do), and if they refuse fine another place.
Edit: Who did you pay the deposit to? You shouldn't have to pay a security deposit if you're not on the lease, and there's no reason to pay one to the roomies.
Security deposit requires proof (ie photographic evidence) that you have damaged the place.
Satans..... hints.....
So... you're not on the lease, but you paid a security deposit?
Was this paid to the people you're flatting with or to the management company who's running the unit?
As you aren't on the lease they are required to refund you your portion of the security deposit and cover the rest themselves unless they can prove damage, if they can prove damage (and it doesn't have to be specifically by you) but they can then take out money to fix it as a percentage of the amount you paid.
Ie if you all paid 100 dollars and there was 100 dollars of damage you would all pay $33 (no one complain about my rounding!).
If you think they may kick up a fuss, lie to them and say that your mother is now really sick and you need to look after her, they'd be a real dick if they then tried to keep your deposit.
Satans..... hints.....
You keep bantering on about legal rights? What legal rights do you want? You have no legal right to pay a third of the rent in a 3-person shared apartment. The three of you can agree to split the rent any way you want. Since you agreed to pay $650 a month, that's what you pay. You had the legal right not to be stupid and agree to this in the first place, but since you waived that legal right, you get to pay what you agreed to.
You entered into a contract, verbal or written, with your roommates and/or the landlord. If you break that contract when you leave, you would be liable. If you are not on a written lease, then ask the landlord for your security deposit back, pay your month's rent, and leave. If you can't get the deposit back and you don't have any sort of written contract, then you might have some recourse (is it even legal to take a deposit from someone without putting them on the lease?) but it will be a lot of trouble and you may have to go to small claims court.
I'm not disagreeing or anything, but i'm just curious as to how you got that number... If it's in the lease and it says what percentage comes out for damage that's one thing, but since he (may) have never signed a lease, then technically the landlord shouldn't have even kept the money in the first place
EDIT (after reading Frylock's post):
Yeah, I kind of have to agree here. If you signed a lease, you're screwed. You might be able to talk the landlord into letting you leave, and ONLY charging you a month or two in rent for breaking the lease. If you didn't sign a lease then the landlord should have never cashed a security deposit check from you in the first place....
If you didn't sign a lease, and these roommates used your money, then you need to move out, and tell the landlord they were doing an illegal sublet to get your money back. He's (or she's, whatever the case) going to be a lot more willing to just pay you to go away and get rid of them than he/she is to drag it out with them over the phony deposit.
It's one thing if people say they will split utilities or whatever and fuck you over by giving you the wrong info, but you knew exactly what you were getting for $650 per month, right? Why is that suddenly a ridiculous amount to pay for the exact same thing?
The numbers I chose were arbitary just to be clear. Security Deposit is Security Deposit Money, not Joe's share and Tony's share. If there is damage then in comes out of the Security Deposit, this cost is then divided between the tennants. Now if specific blame can be named down to a single person then they are liable for the damage and the other people can then take them to court over their part of the security deposit that paid for the repairs. It's completely ridiculous to take them to court most of the time so most people usually just pay it off with their share.
Satans..... hints.....
And for the record, I don't believe you have any legal "recourse" here. I mean, if I'm paying $1000 in rent and I can manage to get a roommate and have him pay ME $1200, well I'm not sure it'd be illegal. Maybe fraud or something if I told him the rent was $2000? Did they tell you they paid more? Other than that I cannot think of any way to "force" them to split it more evenly. Like I said, it's common for uneven rent splits to happen.
it's not a really unusual setup at all. our guy put no effort into getting his own place for almost two years, so he must've been cool with it. i knew how much he made, what he paid us, and what he spent his money on. he could've moved if he wanted to.
are the two people you're living with pre-existing friends of each other or dating? if so, then they could have easily settled on how much the third person's rent would be by deciding, "how much would it be worth to us for the inconvenience of bringing in a stranger to our household?"
my guy didn't always pay so much or have so many rules he had to live under. it started off with me deciding how much it'd be worth to me to bring in a third (at the time) person. as he outgrew his welcome, i'd always give him a thirty notice, but i'd increase his rent to justify the inconvenience of having him around. after a while, having him around was so bad that i not only increased his rent, but i had to restrict him from doing things that bothered us.
all in all, it's all up to the lease-holder, and what price he puts on his own inconvenience of bringing people into his pad.