what can we do

[jabmab247]

We had a roomate and he paid half of rent and half of utilities. We signed the lease in april for one year and at the beginning of july he just up and moved no notice and no forwarding address but i will be able to find him. what are my legal actions?? can we sue him for half of rent until the end of the lease and half of the utilities or can we only sue for half of the rent. we live in the state of virginia. the roommate signed the lease also and the rental application. although im paying full payments to our landlord he wont go after the roommate they say it is our responsibility. any information will be helpful. like how to go about sueing this person and when can we?? at the end of the lease or as early as now for the rest of the lease till april 09.

You can sue the roommate at any time for any money he owes you up to the date of filing. You can sue for utilities if you can prove he was responsible for his 1/2 of those. (Got any cancelled checks? Can you show he paid for 1/2 of these somehow?) File against him in small claims court. The judge may limit his liability if you do not look for another roommate to take his place since VA state law says the LL has a duty to attempt to re-rent. (I'm betting a judge will hold you to the same standard.)

Talk to the LL and see if you can replace the roommate with his approval. He will want an application for the new one and want to screen him and get him to sign the lease also. But that will take the burden off you.

[Bricks41]

If your "former" roomate is on the lease, he would be responsible for the charges incurred. The reason why the landlord doesn't care is because the fact that the roomate is MIA and you are right in front of him/her. You are still ultimately responsible for any charges. Small claims court would be your only recourse for the applicable charges.

[jabmab247]

thank u for your help and information. we have tried finding another roommate however we cant we just moved here from ohio and we dont know anyone. would it be better to wait until the lease is up to sue him for the full amt (his half)?

I would keep trying to replace the roommate. Since state law there requires mitigation of damages to someone who breaks a lease, he may ask the judge to have you show where you continued to try to rent his room.