If I am in a joint lease agreement but no longer live at the apartment and the roommates go against my wishes, can I ask for reparations?
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If I am in a joint lease agreement but no longer live at the apartment and the roommates go against my wishes, can I ask for reparations?
They roommates sold a parking space that went along with our apartment without my knowledge and kept the money for themselves. Our rent is $445 a month. When I moved out of the apartment knowing I’d still be paying rent I said, “I’d like to know if people are staying at the house or if you have a bunch of people over. Please do not let anybody in my room or stay in there without my permission”. I showed up at the apartment to find somebody else’s things in my room and people at the house without my knowledge. I feel this is an invasion of space and a breaking of our contract.
Asked on May 6, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Washington
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you are still paying your portion of the rent, then you should still have possessory rights to the premises--that is, you are still on the lease and are still a tenant, equally so with your roommates. That is because residence has nothing to do with whether or not someone is a legal tenant--you can rent space you are not living in, for example. Therefore, your roommates could not move someone (or someone's belongings) into your space at that apartment without your consent and could not sell the rental's parking space without at least giving you your share of the proceeds. (If there were three or more of you, a majority of the roommates could likely choose to sell the space, but would have to distribute proceeds appropriately.)
They probably can have people over without your consent, unless there was in fact some agreement (which means something they specifically agreed to, not merely something you asked them to do, but to which they did not actually agree) to that effect.
You could take legal action against your roommates to enforce the rights you have a tenant; whether or not that is economically worthwhihle, however, is a different story.
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