Legal help?
Nov. 9th, 2009 11:07 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eldergothSo... I'm dealing with a roommate issue, and need some legal advice:
Three of us live here in the apartment, and we initially signed a one year lease with all three of our names on it. The lease was from December 2007 through December 2008. We became tenants-at-will following that period. The three of us each pay our rent individually to the landlord, due on the first of every month.
Our landlord left a note yesterday asking us to call him regarding ROOMMATE#3's rent. I managed to speak with the landlord in person this morning to find out what was going on, and it seems that ROOMMATE#3 has not paid his rent for last month, and is late with this month's payment. Since the three of us are responsible in whole for rent for the apartment, that inevitably leaves ROOMMATE#3's unpaid rent falling on ROOMMATE#1 and ROOMMATE#2 to cover, which we cannot afford to do.
Aside from the rent issues, ROOMMATE#3 has never once contributed to the upkeep of the apartment, nor to any of the household supplies such as paper towels, garbage bags, and the like. He is also always late paying ROOMMATE#1 the utility bills, which are all in ROOMMATE#1's name. ROOMMATE#3 has also been stealing food from us when we are not around. Sometimes he claims that he was drunk and doesn't remember doing it, but the fact still remains that he has been doing it.
We are pretty tired of dealing with this, and of ROOMMATE#3 jeapardizing the relationship we have with the landlord. This was a very strained relationship for a while, but we have worked hard to build it back up. We like the apartment and don't want to leave it! We don't like the issue that we have been facing with ROOMMATE#3!
Can anyone advise us of what real legal recourse we may have in this situation?
Three of us live here in the apartment, and we initially signed a one year lease with all three of our names on it. The lease was from December 2007 through December 2008. We became tenants-at-will following that period. The three of us each pay our rent individually to the landlord, due on the first of every month.
Our landlord left a note yesterday asking us to call him regarding ROOMMATE#3's rent. I managed to speak with the landlord in person this morning to find out what was going on, and it seems that ROOMMATE#3 has not paid his rent for last month, and is late with this month's payment. Since the three of us are responsible in whole for rent for the apartment, that inevitably leaves ROOMMATE#3's unpaid rent falling on ROOMMATE#1 and ROOMMATE#2 to cover, which we cannot afford to do.
Aside from the rent issues, ROOMMATE#3 has never once contributed to the upkeep of the apartment, nor to any of the household supplies such as paper towels, garbage bags, and the like. He is also always late paying ROOMMATE#1 the utility bills, which are all in ROOMMATE#1's name. ROOMMATE#3 has also been stealing food from us when we are not around. Sometimes he claims that he was drunk and doesn't remember doing it, but the fact still remains that he has been doing it.
We are pretty tired of dealing with this, and of ROOMMATE#3 jeapardizing the relationship we have with the landlord. This was a very strained relationship for a while, but we have worked hard to build it back up. We like the apartment and don't want to leave it! We don't like the issue that we have been facing with ROOMMATE#3!
Can anyone advise us of what real legal recourse we may have in this situation?
