Rental lease advice

[Control for Smilers]

I think you’ve already crossed this out, but selling the house to rent from a slumlord that won’t cut grass or exterminate hornets is a bad plan.

If it’s cheaper to break the lease (and won’t ding her credit) but you don’t have the $6k, could you cash out some equity to come up with it? Otherwise, I think you and she will just have to pay the monthly rent in full, & take the former roommate to small claims court for his portion.

and even IF you get a judgement...good luck getting him to pay. I doubt he owns anything you can put a lien on. ****ty situ. lesson in trust for your daughter.

you just happen to be a good dad, so she won't suffer. but I hope she learns from this.

 

[Boogar Presley]

We've already budgeted to pay the rent, things are tight from here out

 

[KrisD]

We've already budgeted to pay the rent, things are tight from here out

keep up the good work dad

 

[gh1950]

the landlord says he's not responsible for that either

Wrong answer there.

In Georgia, you have the right to "repair and deduct", which in this case means you pay the exterminator, and tender the receipt along with the balance of the rental. Georgia has recently amended it's laws to prevent retaliatory evictions for doing this.

His only remedy would be to file a dispossessory action, then try and prove in court he's not responsible for the exterminator fee. Good luck with that.

Let him squall a little bit.

 

[Boogar Presley]

Wrong answer there.

In Georgia, you have the right to "repair and deduct", which in this case means you pay the exterminator, and tender the receipt along with the balance of the rental. Georgia has recently amended it's laws to prevent retaliatory evictions for doing this.

His only remedy would be to file a dispossessory action, then try and prove in court he's not responsible for the exterminator fee. Good luck with that.

Let him squall a little bit.

The land lord ended up paying, the hornets were actually behind the siding not under the deck as it appeared. My daughters dog is ok from the stings
I went to cut the grass and the belt broke on my riding mower the moment I hit the blade engement switch. Went inside the garage to get my gas power push mower I left so he could cut the grass and it was no longer functional. Pissed off he never told me it was trashed
I had to push the entire front and back with a 20" Ryobi push mower. I dehydrated sweating out a gallon of water and my kidneys have hurt since Tuesday night. Been drinking water, Poweraid Zero and taking D-Mannose and I'm feeling better today
He did send my wife his part of the rent, how long he'll pay is anybody's guess but I suspect we'll never hear from him again

 

[Runs With Knives]

My daughter and her best friend have been room mates for almost 5 years. He's gay and they're just "besties"
He just went in and quit his job yesterday, came home, packed his stuff and moved out
They had just signed another 1 year lease last month for the house they rent in Newnan.
We considerred him a part of the family being my daughters best friend for years. They shared a small house in college in Jacksonville Ala until the tornadoe destroyed their rental house. They lived in an apt in Clearwater Fla then we moved them up here just over a year and half ago to Newnan to be near us(my daughter is epileptic) where they just signed the lease last month on the 3 br 2 ba house again for a 2nd year.
Sent us a text today saying "my happiness matters too, best of luck to you all"
Rent is due in 10 days. My daughter is 24, she can't afford $1,600 a month. I guess we depended on him to be there at night in case she had a seizure in her sleep which is often the case, she can't be alone for that reason
I'm going to start going over and sleeping on her couch at night so she won't be alone and coming back home in the morning when she leaves for work
We have 11 more months on the lease, he up and moved out with 0 notice

I guess my question is can we force him to pay rent even though he moved out? I'm going to have to pick up his half, $800 a month, if he doesn't
It'll cost 3 months rent and lose her deposit totalling $6,300 to break the lease

Hi! I'm NOT a real estate attorney though I AM a GA Licensed Real Esate Salesperson. First, talk to an attorney with real estate experience. Second, it's been my experience having seen dozens of these cases go to court with investor clients, all you get is a price of paper that says person A owes person B money. That's it. Not worth the time, energy or effort for the big let down, IMHO. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than the likelihood of actually recovering a dime.

 

[JimBrown]

The guy that split is, indeed responsible, however, to the lease holder, they are equally responsible. They are very unlikely to overlook the account going into arrears because he will not pay. They will evict, file in court for the arrears, report to the credit agencies... on both on them.
Now, of course, if she were to pay for the lease outright, she can sue the asshat for damage, probably never collect and that would be quite a way down the road.
It is a sad situation to be in, and there are no immediate solutions other than to pay the leaseholder the full amount as agreed.
On the human factor, the leasing folks may be able to help find her a roommate. Not ideal of course, but there that is.
Also, it has been know to happen that a well meaning manager might just toss out the lease, deduct some for the damages incurred and let her vacate the property owing nothing. ( It happens). It happens more often if it is said upfront that she will be happy to relinquish the deposit in order to get out of the lease. Also, as other have said, the hot rental market also helps with the human factor!

 

[Jordanb1229]

everyone on here has pretty much said the same thing. but as a Landlord with 2 dozen properties it is complicated. yes both names are on the Lease, but if rent is not paid both people get evicted regardless of who paid or not. as a Landlord I only accept full rent, I don't care what division between the occupants is (think husband and wife split, they are both on lease but only one is living there but ill evict whoever remains if rent isn't paid). where the lease comes in is when eviction is served the Landlord prevails in court (due to non payment) he can seek a judgement against both tenants (your daughter and the guy), but nothing says he will actually pay. over the last decade I probably have 20+ judgements against tenants and have only ever had 1 pay up, it is very hard for small time landlords (sub 100 properties) to sell the debt to collections or to file against credit, it is so time consuming and rarely worth it. the best thing she could do is inform the Landlord that he has abandoned the property and that she will be taking over the lease in her name alone (as to prevent him from popping back in) and then seek another room mate arrangement subleased under her (if the landlord will allow that, I do.)

just my .02 cents, good luck