Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Missouri

Landlord harassing me for rent

I was living with my boyfriend in an apartment. My boyfriend and I had relationship trouble and I broke up with him. He took all of my belongings out of our apartment while I was at work and left them in my parents driveway. We are both on the lease. I called landlord to tell them the situation and all she would say is that if i dont pay rent she will sue me. I told her i had no problem paying half the rent. My Xboyfriend then told me that he needed the rental history so he would take over the rent and remove me from the lease. he paid 2 months, then only paid half one month. I was then called by landlord and told if i didnt pay i would be sued and that my X had not taken me off lease. She also had asked my X for my parents phone # which is unlisted and called and harrased them saying i need to grow up and that she will sue us for everything we are worth. Also the apartments were in disrepair, the back stairs were in such bad shape that my sister put her foot through the step and cut her leg. Is there anything i can do to get off the lease??


Asked on 11/07/03, 3:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony DeWitt Bartimus, Frickleton Robertson & Gorny, PC

Re: Landlord harassing me for rent

Unfortunately, if you signed the lease, you are probably on the hook. But that does not necessarily mean that you'll be sued for "everything your worth." Under Missouri law a landlord has a duty to mitigate damages. You should probably voluntarily surrender the apartment and allow the landlord to relet it. If the landlord fails to take reasonable steps to relet the apartment, then he cannot claim damages for the full lease term.

If you DO get sued, you have the right, under Missouri law, to file what is called a "third party petition" and sue your former boyfriend. In essence the 3rd Party Petition says "If I owe them, then buster, you owe me."

You can claim that he made an agreement with you to hold you harmless and indemnify you in exchange for leaving the apartment. You might only be responsible for a very small amount of the actual damages.

Also, under Missouri law, the landlord should sue both you and him if he sues. If the landlord sues only you, then you can tell the judge that the landlord has "failed to join a necessary and indispensable party" and the judge will either make them join the boyfriend in the lawsuit, or will dismiss the lawsuit for failure to join this party.

As to the harassment, your best bet is to document and record the harassing phone calls and play them in Court. If you are sued, you should consider filing a countersuit claiming that the landlord unduly harassed you. It is doubtful, but you might get an offset.

Finally, the most important thing to recall about all of this, is that you need an agreement if you ever decide to cohabit with another person. And it doesn't matter if its your brother, a Carmelite nun, or a member of the Hell's Angels, you need to get down in writing who is responsible for what, and what the remedies are if one person or the other doesn't play by the rules. In this way you have a better chance of ensuring that you are not held liable for the debts of a third person.

I hope this was helpful to you.

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Answered on 11/10/03, 8:47 am


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