<p>It’s cheap if you do it in small claims court…and hopefully it wouldn’t get that far. $500/month x 12 months = $6,000 total due from ex-roomie if his spot is never re-rented… </p>
<p>$3K max in Ohio, $5K max in NY for small claims court as an example, and the ex-roomies spot wouldn’t be vacant for the whole 12 months I’d hope.</p>
<p>Not sure what state we’re talking about but if they file it should be in small claims court in the university town (lease likely says something about court being in the state the rental house is in, so make use of that).</p>
<p>It really isn’t as big of a deal as some on CC are making it out to be. Use Facebook and spread the word. You’ll have it rented within a month. Also advertise on your off campus housing board on your college’s website. Problem solved.</p>
<p>Have a little compassion for the roommate who backed out. Something happened financially that made her plans fall through. I’m sure she would love to come back to college and room with you, but financial circumstances are making it impossible for her. </p>
<p>Simply advertise and fill her spot. You have plenty of time to do so. Silly for people on CC to bring up suing the girl.</p>
<p>My son has lived in 3 off-campus houses (one each year). In each case, each tenant had their own lease, and was responsible for only their own rent. Neither my son nor I are in any position to co-sign a lease obligating either or both of us to pay the entire rent (4-bedroom houses each time). The first year, my son actually lived alone in a 4-bedroom house for a few months before the landlord found other tenants - they wound up with a total of 3 living there. </p>
<p>It may well be a regional thing about how typical leases are written, but it’s pretty scary that the OP could wind up with everyone else either moving out or not paying, and then being held responsible for the entire rent.</p>
<p>Finishing up grad school, my d’s roommate lost her visa and had to leave the U.S. within 60 days. Having just renewed their lease, the understanding was that she was responsible for her share of the rent until a suitable replacement roommate could be found. Suitable to living with my daughter in terms of capability and sharing the responsibility of caring for the row house financially and sharing the cleaning responsibilities. Both girls were lucky in that she found someone who worked out to be a suitable roommate fairly quickly but it wasn’t a given in that most grad students, law school and medical school students were already settled in the new semester and living with undergraduates was not an option. When the roommate made security deposit with the landlord, original roommate and close friend’s security deposit was refunded. It was a stressful and difficult situation for all, especially because on top on the change in the living situations for both, they were very close friends and had been through much together in their grad school school experiences.</p>
<p>Meant to say in above post compatibility not capability…that makes more sense. It was a sad situation but fast forward two years and they are still close and good friends although at a distance.</p>
<p>Roommate called our landlord. He said that ex-roommate is still on the hook for his part of the rent until he finds someone to take his spot and other person still has to apply and pay a security deposit. Then he would get his security deposit back, which would be huge for us. </p>
<p>But this kind of confused, the lease is a joint lease. Are they just giving us lip-service? I personally don’t think they care as long as they get their $2000 a month. </p>
<p>Have a few leads and things are looking kinda promising (right now we are only going through personal contacts. I think we hit up Facebook soon), but we’ll see. Might have someone for $450/mo which I would take especially since ex-roommate is going to get his security deposit back…which the 3 of us left think we should apply to rent if someone is renting it for $450, which would make things a wash.
Hate to do it if he is having financial problems but it is somewhat of a compromise. </p>
<p>We are all in-state and in one of the states listed above, the one where claims are limited to $3k.
But suing is like option Z. I only mentioned the threat of it to the current roommates if things get bad (which I hope they don’t/don’t think they will). Still plan on remaining friends with the guy. </p>
<p>I think we could grab someone for at least $400/mo, which would leave us about $1200 short. We would theoretically get ex-rooomies security deposit back of $500, so leaving the gap at $700. I think ex-roommate can make that difference up. Enforcing it might be another thing, but $700 loss/3 people is a lot easier to handle than $6k. </p>
<p>Further, this all ends well for everyone if Op refunds the ex-roommate’s security deposit as well. Before anyone contemplates suing anyone, consider the foolishness of asking the court to resolve an issue that could be easily handled out of court. A good faith effort to mitigate the full damages would likely yield a new roommate who’d be responsible for same rent, same deposit.</p>
<p>If your rent is parity with other comparable rentals and the location is good, I agree with the others who say to get the availability posted to FB, Twitter, Craigslist etc. Get on it right away, don’t waste time and also put some pressure on the leaving roomie to find a substitute. If your rent is higher than comparable places then it’s going to be alittle tougher but there are always kids coming and going from college towns and don’t discount young townies who might be looking for cheap rent.</p>
<p>I had a roommate back out in august. Scared me. Turned out great. Here’s the thing. You have the upper hand in picking a new roommate. Go to the housing department at your school. You can read about the people who are looking for places, you can set the criteria (quiet/partier?, major?, neat/slob?, early/late sleeper?, etc., etc.), you can interview the person, you can be picky because it’s your place already. </p>
<p>One of the greatest people i ever had the luck to know i met this way. Think of it as an opportunity, not a reason to freak. Try to handle everything before you even deal with the landlord. Rule of thumb for college landlords is they don’t want any aggravation. Chances are if you handle all of this for them, they’ll be nothing but grateful.</p>