NC lease with multiple tenants

I own a townhouse in NC (Huntersville area) which I have rented to two non-related people (both names are on the lease). One person always pays rent on time however the other is either late or bounces the rent checks. Last month again the check was bounced and I requested money orders only. As I suspected this month the person's late again. My question are:
1) Could I just evict one of the tenants and if so is the other tenant responsible for the rent?
2) If I evict one of the tenants, do I have to modify the lease and have it signed again by the other tenant?
3) Let's say the "bad" tenant owes me rent for two months-can I use the entire security deposit (1 month's rent) to offset the loss? Or do I have to return half of it to the "good" tenant?
4) Is it easier to evict both tenants?
Thank you for any help with the above.

[OHlandlord]

Both tenants are on one lease. That usually makes them jointly and severally liable. Do you have this wording in your lease? (If not, insert it.) You should not be accepting two checks from the tenants. You should accept only one for the full rent amount. This puts the burden on the tenants to work out their problems between the two of them. Let them decide who pays you. The paying tenant puts pressure on the non-paying tenant to pay on time this way. I let them know that I expect the full rent amount, on time, each month.

If you evict, evict both tenants. They qualified for the unit together, are jointly responsible for the whole rent, and must suffer the consequences together. Either tenant should be responsible to pay you the whole rent if you have written the lease correctly. That means you can pursue the "good" tenant (for lack of a better term) for the missing rent from the non-paying tenant. Would the remaining tenant be able to qualify for the unit on just his income alone? If so, he can try to get the non-payer out, "reapply" for the unit on his own, and you could just write an addendum (which you both sign)to the current lease to exclude the non-payer after he leaves.

As for the deposit, did each pay you 1/2 of the money? Did you write their receipt that way? Or did you just write "received from Tenants A and B, $XXX"? Normally, I make all deposit checks out jointly to all tenants on the lease, send it to one of them, and send the other a letter saying that, "Tenant A has your check". Neither tenant can cash the check without the other signing it this way. If one owes the other money, they can argue about it between themselves and leave me out of it. Since I do it this way, and since I hold each jointly and severally liable, I can use the deposit to cover any missing rent owed to me, and just account for it in the itemized deposit deduction statement (which is also sent to both).

I would suggest sending a notice to both tenants that they are in "violation of the lease for non-payment and that payment must be recieved by xx/xx date or further action will be taken". This has the stern sound of the beginning of an eviction without the actual implications of it. Or, you could send them an actual Pay or Quit notice (or Unconditional Quit notice, whichever your state uses) to pay up immediately or be evicted. But be prepared to evict if they don't pay up. The "good" tenant should realize that an eviction will also go on his record if he can't get the roommate to pay up. How much longer is the lease?

Thank you for your quick reply.The lease ends June 30th. I don't have the lease in front of me right now, but if it does not states that they are both jointly liable (even though both names are on the lease) can they argue that each one is only liable for the portion of the rent? Does this law differ from state to state? My concern is that if I ask the "good" tenant for the other portion of the rent, it may be argued that since I accepted separate checks that person is not liable for the "bad" tenant.
I "inherited" these tenants when I bought the townhouse. They were there for a year and I was assured that they were never a problem and they wanted to resign the lease with me. This is my first time being a landlord - I downloaded a lease agreement form and made changes that were similar to the old lease. I guess I learn as I things like this start to happen.
Thank you

[OHlandlord]

Your lease has 2 names on it, but states that the tenants are responsible for paying $xxx per month, right? I assume it doesn't state that each tenant is only responsible for 1/2 of $xxx. I would go ahead and push the matter with the paying tenant. Tell him they are in violation of the lease because you have only received 1/2 of the rent. Maybe he'll push the non-payer to cough up the dough since both will get evicted if you don't get the money. The problem with allowing each to pay half, writing seperate leases, or evicting only 1/2 the occupants is that the other will then argue that he can continue to stay in the unit for only his 1/2 of the rent. You probably can't afford to rent the place for that rent level, can you? Tell him they are both responsible and that you need your money now because you'd hate to have to file an eviction at Christmas time. And I'm not sure it is legal to evict only some of the occupants. Check your state law, but here I have to evict everyone in the place.

Just looking for some information on leases and ran across this email. My situtation is on the tenant side. My son was in an apartment with two other people. His lease actually says that the amount of the rent is for the full amount but is to be divided by the tenants plus utilities. My son originally went into the agreement with two other people who he knew would pay the rent but one left and the landowner let another person come in that they did not know or agree with. This person quit paying his rent and the landlord was going to evict him but he left on his own. Now the landlord is telling the other two guys that they must pay his amount and the guy's that left. However, he gives them separate pay notices every month, always has, with only their amounts on it and they all pay with separate checks. Can the landlord legally ask for this? Is there any way these guys can get out of this lease?

[OHlandlord]

To the new poster, your son could make a case for not being severally and jointly liable based upon these facts:
-The LL has accepted separate checks from each tenant.
-The lease says the rent is to be divided between the tenants.
-The LL has given each tenant a separate pay notice with only that tenant's amount listed.
-The LL was going to evict only the non-paying tenant, but not the others on the lease. (Do you know if he had issued this guy a pay or quit notice?)
This indicates the LL's acceptance of separate agreements to each tenant.

Whether a judge would buy this argument or not, I can't say. It may depend on the actual wording of the lease and how tenant or landlord friendly your state law is and the judge is. But in the LL's behalf, he may argue the following:
-The lease, while saying the rent should be divided, does not make each tenant responsible for a specific amount.
-The tenants are actually on the same lease, not on separate agreements.
-The lease says the rent should be divided among the tenants. If only two tenants remained, the rent share would be 1/2 to each instead of 1/3 (still divided among the tenants). This, I believe, would be upheld.
-Is the wording severally and jointly liable (or similar wording) in the actual lease? If so, the LL can use this to prove that each tenant is responsible for all of the rent.

Thought I'd give you both sides of the argument so you can judge for yourself. Your son cannot break the lease because someone left. The best possible outcome is that he would only owe his 1/3 of the rent instead of 1/2 of the rent. I would suggest that your son and his roomate advertise and try to find a replacement for the third tenant in the unit. That would solve the problem of how much each pays and allow them to choose the roommate, rather than the LL. They will have to run their choice by the LL for approval, but as long as he is acceptable, the LL will probably allow it. This hapens quite frequently with roommate situations, I'm afraid. Hope it all turns out for the best.