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Hey all, I hosed up big time and signed a lease with my (now) ex-girlfriend. We were originally going to split rent 33 / 66 and bills 50 / 50. Things went downhill quickly after moving in and I realize it's not going to work. It's starting to look like this is going to get ugly and she's going to hang around and refuse to pay anything. In addition, it seems she's also going to go the extra mile to drain me financially (she knows I'm trying to be careful with money) since I came home today and the AC was at the lowest possible setting. poo poo's hosed. I know I hosed up here, but do I have ANY options for getting her removed from the lease or recuperating some costs while she is here? P.S. Writing this sitting in the (much) smaller "second bedroom" sitting on my waste basket. Someone please help. Cheers. The Lease posted:MULTIPLE RESIDENTS OR OCCUPANTS.
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Apr 20, 2016 00:18
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at least this is cheaper than a divorce.
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Apr 20, 2016 01:05
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adorai posted:at least this is cheaper than a divorce. Or a kid!
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Apr 20, 2016 01:11
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Breaking the lease sounds less bad than paying for the place for a year and letting her torture you. At worst you lose your deposit but you keep your sanity. You could potentially offer to pay the company some fee to move out early but definitely figure out where you stand legally before calling them. Laws about breaking a lease vary by state and city so do some reading and look to your local tenants union for help.
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Apr 20, 2016 01:27
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Dopo posted:Breaking the lease sounds less bad than paying for the place for a year and letting her torture you. At worst you lose your deposit but you keep your sanity. You could potentially offer to pay the company some fee to move out early but definitely figure out where you stand legally before calling them. Laws about breaking a lease vary by state and city so do some reading and look to your local tenants union for help. According to my lease I'd owe the entirety of the lease. 
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Apr 20, 2016 01:36
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"Each resident is jointly and severally liable for all lease obligations. " That's your problem. Most leases are drawn up this way. This provision means that both of you are responsible individually for the entirety of the lease. Landlord could come after either one of you for the full amount. Your recourse would then be to sue the other to recoup any portion that you can prove should have been theirs to bear. Whose names are the bills in? Also this is not legal advice, and you should probably consult an attorney because this could be expensive and have a big effect on your financial state/credit.
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Apr 20, 2016 05:09
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Tots posted:According to my lease I'd owe the entirety of the lease.
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Apr 20, 2016 05:13
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ok serious advice here. In the US it is close to the season where you can get by with no heat or AC. Just take the thermostat off the wall. It should have 4 or less wires, the hardest part of removing it will be where they painted it onto the wall. At least this will fix the utility problem.
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Apr 20, 2016 05:23
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adorai posted:I don't know the laws in your state, but they are going to be required to try to find a tenant (or you can do so) and you are only required to pay the difference. Almost every state works like this. adorai posted:ok serious advice here. In the US it is close to the season where you can get by with no heat or AC. Just take the thermostat off the wall. It should have 4 or less wires, the hardest part of removing it will be where they painted it onto the wall. At least this will fix the utility problem. What state are you in? Many areas have free landlord/tenant attorneys for low-income folks, see if your area does and if you qualify. You could clear a lot up in 5 minutes. My last resort would be to go to the leasing office/property manager, own up to where things are at, and see what your options are. If they say "move out and pay for a year's worth of rent here anyway", laugh out loud and tell them to gently caress off. They should have some kind of 30-days notice plus lease break fee, and you should at least be able to weigh that as an option.
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Apr 20, 2016 08:36
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photomikey posted:This is great advice. Also can you afford rent on your own? You could see if they could work a deal out to lease you the next door apartment or whatnot. Or some other work around if your ex refuses to leave or take her name off. The landlord is more likely to work with you if they know they can get something out of it/you're the party more likely to give them something. But yeah talk to a lawyer first, because depending on your state or how slimey the landlord is they could also see this as you have skin in this and she doesn't and see that you're the one they should bother pursuing to recoup the debt. Coolness Averted fucked around with this message at 11:25 on Apr 20, 2016 |
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Apr 20, 2016 09:17
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I am not a lawyer, but wouldn't fire fix this? Not too little, not too much, just the right amount. You're going to have to lose a few of your things.
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Apr 20, 2016 10:43
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cheerfullydrab posted:I am not a lawyer, but wouldn't fire fix this? Not too little, not too much, just the right amount. You're going to have to lose a few of your things. Even though It was an ugly breakup, I am not sure setting his ex on fire will make life easier in the long run.
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Apr 20, 2016 18:12
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Coolness Averted posted:Also can you afford rent on your own? You could see if they could work a deal out to lease you the next door apartment or whatnot. Or some other work around if your ex refuses to leave or take her name off. This is what I did in a similar situation. I went from a 3-bedroom with my ex and her friend to a 1 bedroom by myself in the same complex without having to pay any fees for breaking the lease. The management company also transferred the security deposit and pre-paid rent from the first apartment to the second one, since I was the only person paying any bills.
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Apr 20, 2016 19:33
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Yeah, per the lease she can. Unless your state has really weird laws, the landlord is not obligated to remove her for you nor allow you to break the lease just because things have gone sour. Your best bet is to consult with an attorney- write your goals and your budget down, and bring a copy of the lease with you- and then negotiate with your landlord. See if you can fix it with money. Maybe move yourself to another unit as earlier posters suggested. If you genuinely fear for your safety, not that you have indicated you do, you can and should seek a protection order. Also, many states provide that if you move out before the lease is up you are only liable for the rent until the landlord is able to rerent it. However, if your ex is still in possession then you are still in possession even if you have actually moved out. You could possibly sue her in small claims court to get money back if she keeps doing things like this. It is better to document now and sue after you no longer live with her, if you feel a lawsuit is a good use of yoir time. Vim Fuego fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Apr 21, 2016 |
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Apr 21, 2016 02:34
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Vim Fuego posted:Yeah, per the lease she can. Unless your state has really weird laws, the landlord is not obligated to remove her for you nor allow you to break the lease just because things have gone sour. Your best bet is to consult with an attorney- write your goals and your budget down, and bring a copy of the lease with you- and then negotiate with your landlord. See if you can fix it with money. Maybe move yourself to another unit as earlier posters suggested. Honestly I am not a lawyer but if she is living there for free and you are picking up the slack, you can take her rear end to court for not paying, state the verbal agreement you had initially led you to sign the contract, and then provide documentation of failure to pay up. She can deny and say that she never agreed to pay anything to live there but is any judge going to believe that crap? Hard to say. Alternatively, sink the ship with both of you on board. Rack up crazy utilities together, don't pay for loving anything. Cash out any savings, give to trusted family member. Move out into a homeless shelter and declare bankruptcy and laugh in her face. TWO CAN PLAY AT THIS GAME. She's just as financially liable as you are. (don't do this)
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Apr 21, 2016 17:51
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Ahh to be young and... out of love. I had something similar happen, pretty much a lot of people have. In my state the options were: 1) Talk nicely to the apartment complex and see if they will let you out of the lease early, you and your ex-gf have to agree to both end the lease though (probably easier at an apartment complex that has low vacancy rates) - failed in my case because it was a slum, they wanted their money or the chance to go after it in small claims court if we bailed. 2) 'Weird it up!' My ex-gf felt like being a mooch, so there was no way for me to kick her out, her name was on the lease too. So I made poo poo weird, I just sat around our 1 bedroom apartment naked, right after I would get out of work I'd just bare rear end the couch. Yehaaaw. Worked well to make everyone feel uncomfortable when she would invite friends over (and her new boyfriend, fuuuckkk thhhhaaaat). She moved out in a few weeks and voluntarily took her name off the lease with my approval. 3) Stop paying everything and see who flinches first. Just assume it will trash your credit, see if she blinks first. You're young, you will be fine. Good luck! I've never been quick to attach myself legally to a gf after my events. I'd rather just throw them a few hundred bucks to hopefully allow themselves to get out of any trouble. Its cheaper in the long run.
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Apr 21, 2016 20:38
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Yeah, not an uncommon situation. Your apartment is probably owned by a property investment company (most of them are) and you won't be able to work out something with some corporation five hundred miles away. Even if your place is owned by a local individual, a lease can't be broken by one person if you both signed it. They would essentially have to evict her which is not going to happen. Also keep in mind that she probably wants to move out as much as you want her to; it would take a monumental amount of effort to stay in such an uncomfortable situation just to spite you. Maybe talk to her about one of you getting off the lease or subletting to someone else so you can both get out of this situation. The key there would be to present the argument as EITHER of you moving out so you don't come off as saying "I'm kicking you out". If she really wants to be a turd, my advice is to cancel all utilities and move out. That way she can keep throwing her tantrum on her dime if she wants to get power/internet in her name. Change all your credit/debit cards and even change banks just in case she has that information. Suck it up and keep paying the rent there and get a lovely one-bedroom for yourself. Even better if you can crash as a friend's place or your parents'. Treat this as a learning experience and always CYA in the future. Always draw up a lease agreement with anyone you move in with, roommate or girlfriend.
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Apr 21, 2016 22:15
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Crash with a friend temporarily and shut all utilities off. She will either move or restart them in her name. If the second, do the exact same poo poo she's doing. Max heat, faucets left running 24/7, etc. Find out how many days she has to be gone to consider her "vacated" and you can remove her from the lease without consent. Only then should you change the locks.
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Apr 24, 2016 17:50
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Update: everyone is calmer (still hosed) and she has a place which she'll hopefully be occupying this weekend. Now I need to figure out if I can get out of the part of my lease that says even I transfer it I'm still liable.
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Apr 25, 2016 01:15
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Are you the primary person who deals with the landlord? Do they have any idea what's going on? Splitting a lease is an incredibly horrible idea and leaves you open to things like this (while conferring basically no benefits) but the landlord's main objective in this is to make money, not to trap you in your terrible living situation forever nyahahahaha, and they can't do that if the nutjob tenants they leased can't pay cause without an out y'all just gonna skip town or burn the place down or some poo poo. I got myself in a similar situation a few years back and the end gameplan, which worked out pretty well, was to just assume full responsibility for the lease (not hard to negotiate with the landlord when you're the one actually paying for everything), run the deadweights the gently caress out, and sublet until the lease expires. It's no fun, but unless your ex has straight up dedicated her life to elaborate Korean movie revenge against you living in a house with someone who loving hates you and is highly motivated to make your life unpleasant until you leave isn't an attractive proposition for anyone, even if they get to do it for free. Small claims for damages and unpaid bills is decent leverage for getting a release signature out of her if you want it; you won't really be able to force her to pay but court summonses scare the poo poo out of people, and the filing expenses are chump change compared to the cash she's wasting now.
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Apr 25, 2016 01:30
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bigdookie posted:2) 'Weird it up!' My ex-gf felt like being a mooch, so there was no way for me to kick her out, her name was on the lease too. So I made poo poo weird, I just sat around our 1 bedroom apartment naked, right after I would get out of work I'd just bare rear end the couch. Yehaaaw. Worked well to make everyone feel uncomfortable when she would invite friends over (and her new boyfriend, fuuuckkk thhhhaaaat). She moved out in a few weeks and voluntarily took her name off the lease with my approval. I don't know if I fully believed that this happened. But I really hope it did because it's goddamn hilarious. 
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Apr 25, 2016 06:13
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 00:02 |
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Where you abused in any way?
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Apr 26, 2016 00:43
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