Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Mexico

Being held accountable for a security deposit.

I lived in an apartment with two other people for six months. During that time

I did not have any written agreement or lease with either the landlord or my

roommates. When my then roommates decided to move out of the apartment

I initially told the landlord I would sign a lease when my former roommates

moved out. However, because I could not secure new roommates I backed out

of signing a new lease and moved out of the apartment on August 31st, a few

days after my former roommates moved out. This angered the landlord quite

a bit.

Now the problem is the landlord wants to hold me accountable for my

previous roommate's security deposit and is trying to take me to small claims

court. I'm not sure why he thinks I'm accountable for it. I think his argument

is that in the few days that I lived in his apartment after my roommates

moved out I caused $850 worth of damage to the apartment. Which is in no

way true since I left the place in the same condition as that of my roommates

when they moved out and at that time he was willing to refund them the

majority of their deposit. Since I had no contract with the landlord does he

really have a case against me? Thank you.

1 Answer from Attorneys

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