Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: Roommate broke lease and is seeking deposit

Looks like you've identified a couple of issues. First, unless it was included in your lease, and you had been previously informed, your landlord did not have the right to collect the $200 lease transfer fee. There is no basis in the Washington Residential Landlord/Tenant Act for such a fee. However, you'll have to take into consideration that it is possible that you would have wound up in court over the breach, and that this is not a big price to pay to be let out of your lease without having to pay the full term. Second, both you and your roommate are equally responsible for the rent, that is you are both responsible for the full rent whether or not the other one pays or not. Therefore, even if your roommate was deliquent in the rent, you could have made up his share to keep the apartment, but given your situation I am sure this was not a desirable thing for you to do. In addition, from the facts that you've provided, your roommate was never provided with the opportunity to cure the breach of the lease. In essence you forced him to be removed from the apartment. Further, being served with a 3-day notice to pay or vacate does not in itself consitute an eviction, nor does it affect your credit. It is simply notice that you must cure the non-payment or move from the apartment. Does your roommate have grounds to sue? Yes. However, you can easily claim an off-set because his breach forced your move, and because he was stealing money from you (assuming you have proof). If you are taken to court, you might be able to get back at least half of the "lease transfer" fee.

Re: Roommate broke lease and is seeking deposit

Mr. Vasquez gave you an excellent analysis of your fact pattern.

The only thing I would add is this: Sounds as though your roommate is threatening to take you to court, not your landlord. Should your roommate take you to small claims, you can "remove" the case to district court and be represented by counsel, and you can counterclaim against your roommate for whatever he stole from you provided you can prove it was him. You can file the counterclaim in small claims or district court.

WA requires that fees be clearly distinguished in a rental agreement. They are different from deposits. A fee you had to pay to get out of your lease without further legal action *may* not have been in your lease - I don't know, I haven't seen the lease.

But the issue of whether you received the entire deposit to which you were entitled on move out is between you and the landlord, not you and the roommate. The issue of whether your roommate is entitled to half of what you got back is likely going to turn on what the judge thinks about who was responsible for the abrupt move out.

Lesson to take away from this: Don't take legal advice from your landlord!

Hope this helps. Elizabeth Powell