Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

I have been living in a house that I was not on the lease for for the past 6 months. 5 of my roommates signed a lease with the landlord when they moved in but this was before I lived there. One of the people who were on the lease moved out and allowed me to sublet their room. Also, 3 other roommates on the lease moved out during the time I have been here. Throughout the time I have stayed here, all of the roommates would give each month's rent and utilities to one of the roommates designated to keep track of this and she in turn would hand everyone's combined rent to the landlord. In September, the original lease is up and the roommate designated to take the rent was not going to be on the new lease and let everyone know she was moving out. The other current roommates all decided that they would like to renew the lease with each of them on it. The original roommate who was designated to take the rent said that she talked to the landlord and each roommate would need to give her an equivalent amount of a security deposit ($1400) to give to the landlord to initiate the new lease. A few days later, one of the roommates spoke with the landlord only to find out he had never received the money. Upon realizing this, a call was made to the designated roommate but she had already moved to another state (North Carolina.) After a few attempts she was reached and she explained that the money the roommates had given her was to compensate her for the money she lost from the previous lease. This loss occurred because the landlord did not return her security deposit due to massive damages to the house. She also gave some of the money intended for the new lease's deposit to roommates on the original lease who also did not get their deposit back. This money was not ever intended to compensate her or the other original roommates and none of the roommates who paid her this deposit knew that is how it was going to be used. We are all now looking at having to pay the full amount of the deposit once again to the landlord because he never received it. What actions can we take to get this money back? She is no longer returning phone calls or text messages and some of the roommates cannot afford to pay the deposit again and we are running out of time. Thanks

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Landlord & Tenants questions and answers in Virginia

Looking for something else?