If I’m already off my lease but my roommates say they want 2 months of rent or they are going to take me to court, can they?
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If I’m already off my lease but my roommates say they want 2 months of rent or they are going to take me to court, can they?
I was on a lease agreement with 3 roommates for 1 year; it ends in 6 months. However, due to a hostile living situation, I went to my proprty manager/owner at the beginning of the month and asked to removed from the lease (so I could move out). They agreed and I signed all the paperwork and paid my part of the buyout; I am now no longer on it. Yet, my roomates are trying to say that I owe them money for the next 2 months rent or they are going to take me to court.
Asked on June 13, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Washington
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
The property manager could NOT remove you from the lease without your roommates' approval: all parties to a contract (and that's what a lease is: a contract) must agree to remove a party from it. Therefore, your roommates may hold you liable to them for your share of the rent under the lease, if they did not agree to let you be removed from it. The landlord's agreement to let you off does not bind them or remove their rights to hold you to the lease as well as too any agreements among the four of your as to who would pay what.
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