Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

I have 2 roommates that have for the past 8 to 9 months been very disruptive to the neighborhood on a fairly normal basis. Usually weekly they have a big party. They do not have any sort of rental agreement other than a verbal one with myself and my husband. My landlord who knew they were there from day 1 has been called by the neighbors for the last time and is pissed off.

She told them to get out by Wednesday, I know they have to be legally notified and whatnot and have 30 days to vacate however at this point they dont know that and my landlord doesnt care. Lest things get uglier I plan on keeping my mouth shut on that one.

Now I am in the middle because I am the one they give rent to and i forward it to my landlord. I am on the written lease they are not, however, again my landlord KNEW about their presence from day 1 of the moving in.

Heres my problem, they want a refund on 1/2 months rent. I don't (obviously) have their money as I forward it to the landlord. If I were to give them their money out of my own pocket it would be $96.80, however they still owe me for their share of a $437 heating bill that we split 4 ways. He says he doesnt owe me for the heating bill because when I paid it it was over christmas and I wanted to wait and tell him after the holidays were over, and he paid his rent so he wouldn't panic. I have the documentation to prove that I purchased that oil out of my account.

He has had some money problems and I wanted to be nice and maybe set up a $25 a ween repayment plan. I did tell him about a week and a half before my landlord got pissed that he owed us the money but I didnt specify a date he had to pay it back I just let him know that we had purchased oil and that there was a debt to us that he owed.

Really when I say "he" i mean "they" both the boys are angry about not getting their money back but I'm only really talking to one of them as the other is really quiet. They are brothers, both have had some problems paying rent before, and I just thought it would be easier for us to help them out a bit by paying for it up front and establishing a payment plan later.

at this point I DONT CARE about the oil debt, i just want to know if I indeed owe them any money and if they have a leg to stand on in small claims court if they decide to go that route.

So....my questions are:

Is he owed any money for the rent?

If he is owed any money is it myself or my landlord that has to pay him?

And if it is myself and they do take me to court then does the oil debt counter the money that I would owe them?


Asked on 1/16/11, 8:02 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Why should you worry about these matters? If the landlord wants to give them the boot, let her deal with these issues.

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Answered on 1/21/11, 8:30 am


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