Can Someone Help Me With An Apartment Lease Question?
I signed an apartment lease (1 year lease) for a friend a year ago. I never lived there.
The lease is up in a month. Before I signed the lease, she verbally agreed to pay the rent every month. She has paid rent every month, but refuses to pay the last month rent of the lease.
Since my name is on the lease I know that I will be responsible for the last month rent if she doesn’t pay.
Is there anyway I will be able to take her to court to get my money back because she verbally agreed to pay the rent every month?
You have committed fraud against the landlord, so you have no agrument when the landlord sues you. You had better hope she has not damaged the place.
You can take her to small claims court. It will be your word against hers though, and you have to admit to defrauding the landlord.
How you will fair will depend on how the judge feels about your dishonesty. Obviously both you and your friend are very dishonest people, he really can not take the word of either of you.
Patricia is incorrect. There is no fraud here. Yes, you might be responsible for the last month’s rent, but she is responsible to pay it. She made a verbal contract, and it’s enforceable. You can take her to small claims court and if you have ANY evidence of her verbal agreement (like a witness), then she is liable for the rent. Try reasoning with her first, and if that doesn’t work, take her to small claims court.
No because you could be convicted of fraud in the process.
you should have made a sublease but you have nothing showing proof of your agreement
While verbal agreements are enforceable you may have an issue as to the legality of the agreement in the first place. Most leases bar subletting the unit without the landlord’s express written approval. This arrangement is clearly a sublease. If the landlord didn’t approve of this scheme, your friend has an argument that the agreement that you had with her is unenforceable. You may have legal recourse if the landlord had actual knowledge of who was living in the apartment and never raised any objection to the sublease. His tacit approval by failing to enforce his rights under the lease could constitute a waiver of that clause and would therefore restore the validity of your verbal agreement.
Whether you succeed in any suit will depend upon how the law is written — an express bar in the law would freeze you out — and probably the judge’s mood. Even if it’s technically illegal, he may rule that an equitable result would be for her to pay you what she owes you as she did receive benefit for the rent paid, i.e. the right to occupy the unit which she clearly did.
As far as proving the existence of an agreement between the two of you, the facts will stand on their own merit. If you have any proof that she actually paid rent to you such as bank records or a receipt book then you should be fine on that issue.
Contrary to what another respondent claims, there is no criminal fraud involved. This is purely a civil matter.