Co-renter leaving never paid bills and wants full deposit

[BowenGabriel]

My jurisdiction is: Colorado

Our Co-renter/Co-signer is moving out after 4-5 months and has paid a total of $190 dollars in Cable and Utilities. (Cable 140 a month, Utilities 250 =approx 1550+). All other payment have been made by myself. Realty company is signing new lease with myself and new renter (family). We are supposed to pay them their deposit back. Can we withhold some of the deposit due to lack of payments. Both bills are sadly in my name (stupid on my part). Would a judge side with us if they took us to court? We still planned to pay them half, which is more than they should get. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

What was the deal you initially made with the co-tenant? Were they supposed to pay half of the utilities and cable? Was this put in writing? Do you have documentation on what they actually paid?

Gail

 

[BowenGabriel]

Sadly there was no written documentation. We were sharing in rent, utilities and cable 50/50. They did pay their rent but they have only paid maybe 10-15% of the utilities and cable. They did make their own payments on both once (using credit card or check) and I have their names on the accounts so they could make payments. I have documentation of all dates of payments from utilities and cable and my bank statements showing when I paid...

The only thing I have not done yet is sign the exit paperwork for them...if I can not hold back some of the deposit to cover the unpaid bills, could I refuse to sign until they clear the matter up??

Any help appreciated.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Since you are the landlord in the sense of returning the deposit, you can certainly withhold some of this for owed utilities.

It is, however, very important that you follow the required laws for notifying the co-tenants of the status of their security deposit. I've attached a site where you can review this. You do not need to give them this information at their move-out; Colorado gives you 30 days to provide this. That way, you can get any remaining bills to add to the amount you are keeping (if appropriate). However, failure to provide this by the 30 day deadline negates your ability to keep any of the security deposit.

http://www.rentlaw.com/securitydeposit.htm

I hope this makes sense...

Gail