Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Utah

Liability of Lease

If your roomate did not sign the lease, she is not responsible to the landlord. Unless traditional lease law of most states, all parties signing the lease are individually responsible to the landlord for the full months rent. You will have to pay the full months rent and sue your roomate if there is no payment on the share the roomate is responsible for. However, I am not licensed to practice law in your jurisdicition and suggest that you consult local legal counsel.

One Tenant Leaves; Who Pays?

We are not licensed in UT and suggest you contact a UT lawyer for the exact answer in UT.

This law is mostly the same in every state and its not good for you. Your roommate gets to leave and you are stuck with the full rent. The signing of the Condo rules is meaningless.

You may sue her in Small Claims court for the extra amount you had to pay to the Landlord to make up her difference, but as between you and the landlord -- you owe the full month's rent every month. Sorry.

If you sent in a partial payment to our landlord clients and you refused to pay the balance allegedly owed by your now departed roommate, we would evict you.

Payment due is to a person (or company) not a lease.

Your roommate (if she didn't sign the lease) is not obliged TO THE LANDLORD, but you might (probably, in my guestimate) be able to force her to pay you for her share because you have good evidence that she was to be a tenant along with you: her having moved in, plus her telling you so -- your testimony and possibly her admission that she was moved in there at one point, but don't alert her in advance to what you'd be asking her in court without getting advice of local counsel first!

MEANWHILE, in most leases and in most states, each individual that signs a lease is liable for the full amount of the rent (but not if someone else has paid it so that the collected rent would exceed the total). In other words, the landlord can pick and choose who he'd pursue for the rent and it can be all or just anyone of the signers. But he won't be able to choose someone who didn't sign the lease. The point is that you had better pay the whole rent. You can ATTEMPT to get the landlord to pursue her, but he probably won't agree to do so.

Lastly, if she lived there at any point without paying for the rent for the time she was there, the landlord CAN pursue her for that rental period's rent. You may be able to get the landlord to work with you and try to get that money from her himself -- at least a phone call or a letter, but it's not really in his interest to bother. If he doesn't have the full rent, he can start eviction proceedings against whoever's there.

You should have a local (your state!) lawyer.