Ok, I have an issue and I would appreciate any help asap. I go to school in philadelphia and back in november I moved into a house with 3 of my friends who were living there at the time at an understandment that there was 4 of us in the house. The way I got on the lease was one of the kids wants to move out so i told him I would take his spot, so he brought me a copy of the lease and we scratched off his name in a few places and i signed mine and initialed somewhere too.
Now about 1 month later one of the other roomates moved out he just crossed his name off the lease but told us he would continue to pay until he found someone we could live with.
He found someone but we weren't in agreeance about the person. So he just ended up crossing his name off the lease and living somewhere else.
So the next month i did pay 500 dollars because there was only 3 of us (rent is 1500) around december one of our friends moved in but didnt sign the lease.
by the time january came around the other 2 roomates that were living with me and on the lease dropped out of school and were basically not living there. We were really far behind on rent because of them and they couldn't afford the utilities either.
so around the end of january me and the kid who was living there (not on the lease) got a notice in the mail about our electric was going to be shut off. We paid our share of the utilities but couldnt afford their share as well and they weren't living there at the time so they probably didnt care if the electric got shut off.
Well long story short the old landlord calls my mother gives her sass and she calls me i left him a message so far and he hasn't returned it. I am worried because i was paying one of the kids who lived there prior to dropping out of school in just cash for my monthly payment, i only sent the landlord a check once with my moms name on it. hes telling me now that i owe this back money of 1500 which i dont see correct.
Also the real question i want to know is if i was subleasing? I took over the lease for someone else if thats the case then wouldnt the original tenant be liable for the money? And how can someone just cross themselves off the lease? I have never seen or talked to this landlord so I am really confused at what to do at this point.
Thanks
Now about 1 month later one of the other roomates moved out he just crossed his name off the lease but told us he would continue to pay until he found someone we could live with.
He found someone but we weren't in agreeance about the person. So he just ended up crossing his name off the lease and living somewhere else.
So the next month i did pay 500 dollars because there was only 3 of us (rent is 1500) around december one of our friends moved in but didnt sign the lease.
by the time january came around the other 2 roomates that were living with me and on the lease dropped out of school and were basically not living there. We were really far behind on rent because of them and they couldn't afford the utilities either.
so around the end of january me and the kid who was living there (not on the lease) got a notice in the mail about our electric was going to be shut off. We paid our share of the utilities but couldnt afford their share as well and they weren't living there at the time so they probably didnt care if the electric got shut off.
Well long story short the old landlord calls my mother gives her sass and she calls me i left him a message so far and he hasn't returned it. I am worried because i was paying one of the kids who lived there prior to dropping out of school in just cash for my monthly payment, i only sent the landlord a check once with my moms name on it. hes telling me now that i owe this back money of 1500 which i dont see correct.
Also the real question i want to know is if i was subleasing? I took over the lease for someone else if thats the case then wouldnt the original tenant be liable for the money? And how can someone just cross themselves off the lease? I have never seen or talked to this landlord so I am really confused at what to do at this point.
Thanks
