Roommate Failed to Pay Rent

When one roommate doesn’t pay his or her share of the rent, it not only puts pressure on the rest of the roommates to come up with the extra money, it may subject everyone to eviction. Regardless of how roommates have decided to split the rent, such agreements don’t affect the tenant’s obligations to the landlord. That is, each roommate is responsible to the landlord for the entire rent. The rental agreement usually refers to this as joint and several liability. That means if one of the roommates doesn’t pay his or her share of the rent in a particular month or simply moves out, the other tenants are responsible for covering it. If there’s a valid roommate agreement among the roommates, perhaps the remaining roommates can try to get reimbursement from the debtor roommate in small claims court. They’re pretty easy to put in place. If you’re heading into a roommate agreement, check out the samples available on the web and seek legal advice about how to customize it for your particular needs.