Legal help! housing lease signature issue.

[Funfettie]

So question for ya about a lease signature..

My buddy and I rented a place last June on a 1 year rent deal. The place was a 3 bedroom apartment, so we decided to find a random kid to fill the 3rd room. So we found a guy, but he wasnt planning on staying there the whole year, and we told him that we didnt care as long as he found a sub leaser, cause we didnt want to deal with finding another person to lease the room. So this means we had no agreement to sublease to him.

So when he signed the lease, he signed the 3rd signature line, so he didnt sublease from me or my buddy, but he wrote next to his signature 'Sublease, 7/14/12 to 12/30/12' Does that mean hes still responsible for paying for the room since he signed the original lease, or does his little sublease comment get him out of it? We never discussed a sublease agreement, and the landlord is after us about money now..

Advice? I cant afford paying for this other portion, and Im afraid we may be taken to court if this gets put off any longer. Also doesnt help that my buddy things that we should blow it off, and they wont take us to court over 5 months of rent, which I know they will.

Please help!

 

[mcrae_06]

I went through something similar; i had two roommates jump ship about 3 months into a lease. In my experience whoever's signature is on the lease is who they will go after, and they will also happilly drag you into court over 1 month's rent. If you don't pay rent for 5 months, all three of you will have 'serious delinquincy' (anything over 120 days past due) on your credit history. I would come up with rent and get ahold of the other two people and try to work something out asap. Remember, each negative thing on a credit report takes several years to go away.

 

[cs82685]

^ what he said. And while your at it bust your ass to find a replacement for the room to help you pay the lease for the last six months. Likely the landlord can go after all of you but I bet it would be easier for him to go after the two that didn't write sublease and a shorter term next to their name (use you and your buddy who are still there)