Should I still have to pay rent?

[enforcer52]

My jurisdiction is: Ohio

A couple of months ago I signed a lease to live in a house with 3 of my friends. We all signed the lease. Well I wasn't able to move in with these guys. After I told them I wouldn't be living there I assured them ill still pay rent untill we found a sub-leaser. Well I talked to another person about moving in and he agreed since the other 3 knew the guy well. i thought it was going to be a done deal. Well one of the roommates told him to call his parents and the father had told the hopeful roommate he wasn't going to live there. He had told him he was the main lease holder and he had the right to deny him access to live there. Well after that this guy dosn't want to live there anymore. Just to see if he was talling the truth we called the landlord to see if it were true that he was the main lease holder since I was not aware of this when I signed the lease. Well when we talked to the landlord he was all for this new guy moving in and he never heard of this main lease holder. Well now im stuck still paying rent when i had a sub-leaser ready to sign so I wouldn't have to worry about this mess. Also I know of a guy he sleeps there everynight and he dosn't pay,and he never leaves to go back to his own house. I would like to know if this could be argued in my case or not.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The person who gets to decide whether a subletter can take over the lease is the landlord, not someones father (unless, of course, dad happens to be the landlord). Even if the father co-signed for his son, he's only guaranteeing he'll cover his sons debts should this fellow fall behind on his portion of the rent.

At any rate, since you still do not have someone to take over your portion of the rent, you would still owe for this amount until you can find another subletter.

Gail