Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Pennsylvania

3 sign the lease, 1 leaves and doesn't get off the lease

Me and 2 other people signed a lease for living in an apartment for one year. We had a VERBAL AGREEMENT about one paying for the ALL rent and the other two just utilities, everything was fine until 6 months later out of the blue the one wanted to split all bills 3 ways. So me and the other roomate decided that was fine. Even after that WRITTEN agreement, he moved out leaving me and the other person stranded to pay all the bills. Now 3 months later he still isn't off the lease, and hasn't paid one dime towards rent or the utilities. I'm sueing him in small claims court, I got on Dec. 19th. Now my question is, what all do I need to bring to win this case? The one that moved out states that he has a written letter from my other roomate stating that we told him to move out, but regardless of what we say or write he still hasn't done his part to get off the lease so he is still liable for the rent, correct?

Thank you for your time.


Asked on 12/06/05, 4:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Davidson Law Office of John A. Davidson

Re: 3 sign the lease, 1 leaves and doesn't get off the lease

Ok, so you are off to the District Justice.

I don't understand why you want him off the lease. That imposes a duty on him to your landlord to abide by the lease. So if the rent isn't paid the landlord can come after him as well as you and your roommate for rent. So I would think he wants his name off the lease.

So after you changed the agreement one of your roommates leaves. So what you want to do is enforce that agreement. So that from the time of that agreement he owes you 1/3 the rent and utilities.

So you need the following:

1) The lease. To show what the rent is. 2) Utility Bills. To show what was paid for the utilities. 3) the written agreement. Showing that he has a contract that creates the obligation to pay. You also might want to put together a document sumarrizing by month what you paid for rent and utilities.

If you need futher assistance you feel free to contact me. I don't charge for the initial consultation.

{John}

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Answered on 12/06/05, 4:39 pm


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