My co-tenant left, leaving me holding the bag for rent. What can I do?

by Amara Amy Digital Marketer

It’s never an easy pill to swallow when your co-tenant or roommate up and leaves (sometimes in the middle of the night). Why? Because unlike those people, your rent charges never go away.

So what to do about this? The first thing you need to do is figure out the legal status of this former occupant.

Were they on the lease? If they are named—and signed the document—they are a co-tenant. This means that they are obligated to pay rent for the lease period. Most leases include clauses that say that the co-tenants are “jointly and severally liable” for all lease obligations. In plain English, this means that your Landlord can sue either the both of you, or one of you to cover any unpaid rent or for any default according to your lease. Each individual tenant is responsible for the rent owed by the other.

If they were not on the lease, they are a roommate. This means that they have no obligations under the lease, and your Landlord simply has to sue you to recover any unpaid rent. In some respects, it’s better to be a roommate than a co-tenant, but a co-tenant has more protections, because someone on the lease can evict a roommate, who is not. You cannot evict your co-tenant.

If you have a co-tenant, you want to remind them that if you can’t pay the rent on time, you both run the risk of being named in an eviction proceeding. This will affect both of you, even if the landlord has the opportunity to pursue joint and several liability. This is not the case for roommates, as they are not on the lease.

Your next step should be to find someone new to cover the missing rent that the former occupant paid. It is completely legal for you to bring a roommate into the apartment if a co-tenant left. In that case, you and your Landlord should consider amending the lease to reflect the changes to the persons named as tenants.

If you cannot find a replacement before the next month’s rent is due, you unfortunately run the risk of being dragged into housing court, because as a tenant, you are ultimately responsible to cover the shortfall produced.

The only good news here is that court proceedings in the era of COVID-19 are moving at a glacial pace. Even though your Landlord can file an eviction proceeding against you, it is unclear as to when the Court will schedule the first court date. This means you have time to hopefully find a new roommate or co-tenant, or some other means of doing the inevitable—paying rent.

If you would like to speak more about your specific co-tenant or roommate situation, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We here at Outerbridge Law are well-versed in the art of managing co-tenant and roommate relations, and would be happy to talk. Contact us today for a consultation.

Outerbridge Law, P.C.

(212) 364-5593

contact@outerbridgelaw.com

www.outerbridgelaw.com