Sub-leasing an apartment

I moved to Charlotte, NC this past September and decided to sub-lease an apartment from a friend of mines boyfriend. I had to fill out all of the same paperwork that you would normally fill out through the leasing company in order to take over the lease.

I inspected the room and found that there were fleas in the apartment, as well as damage to walls and carpeting, the room had not been cleaned, and the walls were red,white and blue.

I told management and they told me that they were not involved with any problems wrong with the room, that everything had to be worked out between me and the previous tenant. I asked for the contact information of the 2 people on the previous lease and they told me that they could not give that information out.

My lease is up at the end of this month and I am still yet to hear from either of the previous leasors. ( A college student and his mother as co-signer) I am now being charged with damages that were already there and am still not being provided with there contact information.

What are my options?
Please someone help me.

I was also told by the previous tenant that he would paint the apartment back to white so I would not have to do so. He promised to do so for 3 days (delaying my move in) and finally I got tired of waiting and did it myself.

[msg]

Did you sublease or lease from the landlord?

The landlord cause it a sublease, whereas I took over the remainder of the previous tenants lease (11 of 12 months).

However, I had to go through the landlord to get into the apartment.

[msgny]

You can dispute it and go to small claims. The landlord knew the condition when you moved in--or should have.

[OHlandlord]

A sublease is supposed to mean that you are renting the unit from the previous tenant, who then is responsible to the LL. The LL may ask you to apply, and screen you to be sure you are a suitable tenant, but your lease should actually be with the last tenant. (Did you sign a lease with your LL? If so, it probably wasn't a sublease.) Additionally, with a true sublease, the original tenant is still under lease with the LL and is held responsible for the damages to the unit. If you caused the damages, the previous tenant would have to sue you to recover the money for these. Since you never knew who the last tenant was, this surely doesn't sound like a sublease. It sounds as if the LL assigned the old tenant's remaining time to you. Please read the lease you signed and see if it says who it was between (you and ???). If it was the LL, you will have to sue in small claims. Did you get a condition statement as part of your lease (stating the condition of the unit)?

I am having similar problems except i did not sign any aggreement with the previous tenant or landlord of the apartments. The tenant left the place a disaster and never put in any work orders I asked of him. All the bills were in his name and i was paying to him directly. He let the cable get shut off. And utilities were 3 months alte. I had to writ him checks for $300 one month to make up for him not paying. plus parking was a nightmare and i wanted my own lease and my own apartment. he still had a key to where i was staying so i felt unsafe telling him i was moving out. I moved out and got my own place and told him. I told him i would give him the prorate for the time I was there. He keeps threatening me to take me to court and that i woe the whole month but he never fully moved his stuff out. THe garbage disposal was broken along with the spray thin in the sink. He did not clean at all before he moved out. I had to scrub every inch of the place before i would touch anything. He never gave me a mailbox key or bills to pay. He was late on his rent before he moved out. so every month i got eviction notices under my dorr thinking it was my fault. i would call him worried and scared and he would lie and say it takes a while for my checks to go through. this went on for 4 months before he told me that he owed $700 for the month previous to when i moved in and that is why i got those letters. His lease runs up in a few months. I understand I am putting him in a bind but I feel that i have been treated un fairly and my safety and health was in jeopardy so when i finally found an apartment i moved out. I feel that I am trying to d othe right thing- i don't want to screw him over but i don't fee; that i owe for the whole month since i am not there.
Again i sgned no papers- no lease- nothing and he is stating i broke our contract. When I moved in- he told me i was doing him a favor since he was "buying a house"- later it came out that he was living in his aunts basement.
He also tried to get me to pay him in cash one month because he needed to pay his credit card bills?

[OHlandlord]

This is directed to the last poster:

You had no written agreement with anyone and were thus a month to month tenant or a tenant at will. To move out, you must give your LL appropriate written notice that you are vacting. This notice period varies by state, please post your state and I can tell you how much notice you needed to give. You must pay rent for this period of time. Whether a full month or a partial month epends on whether the state has a rule on when notice must be given. Some states, literal day states, will allow you to give notice at any time and move out. Other states, called term states, require that notice be given so that you move out at the end of a term. If your state is a literal day state, you need only pay the prorated rent. If it is a term state, you must pay rent for the whole month. (You would have to look up whether it is a literal or term state as I do not have that information.)

Your LL was not taking care of things. He did not pay his rent or utilities on time. He did not forward requests for repairs as he should have. He did not give possession of the unit in clean condition, nor does it sound as if he did a move-in inspection with you. (Without one, how can he prove you did any damage?) I suspect that he was not permitted to sublease the unit by his LL.

BTW, it is standard procedure for a LL to have a key to your apartment, no matter where you live. This is permitted by law. Let me know what state you are from and I can give you the required noice period and the statute to look up to see if it is a term state. Beyond that, I doubt you owe him anything else. With no written contract, you have no obligation to stay through the whole lease. You may give notice and leave.

Missouri
The apartment LL did not know I was living there.
The guy I was subleasing from told me I was doing him a favor by living there.

I offered him the prorated amount for the month. But I moved out on the 8th. I feared telling him before I moved my things out because he seems to have a problems and I was scared of him. One minute he is friendly and the next he is getting caught in his lies and yelling at me. I told him that I was looking at places about a month ago.
He told me I could "have his furniture" that he jsut didn't want to move out and the ncharged my for that- which I paid for in August. I have paid for everythign he has every asked of me - no real questions asked. But since we had no real aggreement or any signed contract/ or anythign signed at all for that matter.
I was staying there and paying rent because he could no longer afford it.
I feel that he is just threatening me with court because he thinks I will just give up and pay. I am no trying to cheat him of money that I think he deserves but I am not willing to be cheated myself when I have been being cheated for the past 6 months.
He doesn't have any of my information- just my name and cell phone #.
Thank you!

Also what does that mean for him or me for that matter since the apartment LL did not know about me living there?

He said the damages and such that I requested to be fixed were there when he started living there. ( i find this hard to believe) There was black mold on every air vent and like I sadi earlier the garbage disposal did not work and the spary thing on the sink was just a hose no handle or anyway to control the water came out of the hose every time you turned the water on.

Thanks