Roommate abandoned apartment

[George Aroush]

I have a unit rented to two roommates. Out of the blue, one of them gave only two weeks' notice via email that he would be moving out at the end of December 2024 -- and he did. He removed all his belongings and left the keys in the office mailbox. This left the remaining roommate in a difficult situation, and he is now trying to find a new roommate.

I have informed both tenants that they are equally bound to the 12-month lease agreement and that rent must be paid in full, regardless of one tenant moving out. For January, the remaining roommate covered both his portion and the share of the one who moved out. He plans to do the same for February, as he has not yet found a replacement (and I have reminded him that any new roommate must go through my vetting process). However, I am unsure of what will happen for March and beyond.

Now, the roommate who moved out is requesting the return of his security deposit. My question is: Am I obligated to return it? I don’t believe so, as he effectively breached the lease. For context, each tenant has a separate security deposit escrow account.

[Greg M.]

I'm assuming you have one lease covering both tenants and not individual leases. And I'm assuming it says that each tenant is joint and several liable. 

If so, you can use the security deposits from both tenants to cover missed rent. 

If needed to evict, you would list both. However, given the fact one is gone and the other is doing their best to cover all the rent, eviction would be a last option. I'd also suggest that the remaining tenant pay only their rent for one month and that you use the security deposit from the other tenant to cover that missed rent. You can then tell the vacated tenant their their deposit was used to cover missed rent.