Roomate Roomate wanting to break a year lease but i do not want to

[nattye12]

Hi-
So my roommate recently tried breaking our year lease with me and i agreed to do it at first because i had no other roommate in mind to replace her. However, my friend from another state is moving in dec and wants to replace her part of the lease when he is out here. So i canceled the notice to vacate our apartment. I asked the leasing agent if i sign and she does not will i still have to move or do we need both need to sign to cancel the agreement. He said no since your name in on the lease yours is enough even if she gives you a hard time about signing and refuses to sign it. Later that day he told her i would have to move if she doesn't sign. I'm first off pissed at this agent because of all the mixed information. And i do not know what is legally acceptable now? am i going to have to vacate in 30 days if she pays the fee to break the lease even though i withdrew my half and signed the documentation? or because we both did not sign i'm still stuck moving out?

thanks i hope i can get some help because this has truly added so much stress to my life and i just want some advice or legal proof that i can stay and she will have to wait out the lease until dec( when my friend takes over her half of the lease)

 

[army judge]

You are free to assume the lease. She/he (your roomie) is also free to break the lease. You can't force anyone to stay where they don't want to live.

You are free to assume her/his half of the lease and put the lease solely in your name. In fact, that's what most people do when they become adults and aren't married.

You don't have a legal problem or any recourse, other than to move or assume the full amount of the lease. Good luck.

 

[fredrikklaw]

Only if it was that easy!

NATTYE12:

I am sorry you are stressing so much about whether or not you may have inadvertently cancelled the lease by "signing" some kind of a notice to the attention of either the roommate, the agent, or the landlord; I am not clear who exactly it was sent to. But it matters not a jib who signed what and what was sent to whoever else or whomever else because, you are still very much the bona fide tenant per the lease agreement.

So, do not start looking in the classifieds for new digs just yet as you are not going anywhere any time soon; well not until the natural expiration of the lease, anyway. And, if you think you can arbitrarily cancel a lease agreement by way of a notice, well lucky for you, think again, and again, because the only way for you to leave your current abode before the lease expires is by not paying the rent and via an eviction process.

There are of course numerous types and all manners of agreements and contracts out there that are readily and routinely cancelled arbitrarily and on a whim by either of the signatories without much fear of legal consequences and with impunity to boot, but a lease agreement is not one of them.

For future references as well as your own peace and sanity, if you must engage the agent in conversation or ask him any questions, make sure all is within his grasp and ability to answer, like the time of day or the weather. For legal questions concerning leases and whatnot, download your state's Landlord-Tenant Laws and relative statutes and read them, learn them, memorize them, and then some more.

It is useful and important information to have at the ready.

fredrikklaw