What should one tenant do when the other wants out before lease..

Question

Here is the situation: Two tenants sign a Lease Agreement and share a 2-bedroom apartment in Denver, CO.

The lease ends on Dec 25, 2017 (Merry Christmas). If one tenant decided to move out, say on June 1st, before the maturity of the least term, should she be obligated to pay her share of rent of $846.50/month through Dec. 2017?

What's your interpretation to the Leasing Agreement in the state of Colorado. Thank you for input.

Below are the Early Move out clauses:

Bill S. · Answer

@Tek Chai in Colorado, generally speaking leases are jointly and severlly liable by law (an attorney should verify that yours in your situation is). That means just what Nathan G. said.

The landlord has no obligation to cooperate or release anyone from the lease.

Since you are asking on behalf of the "happy tenant". Both tenants are on the hook. If the lease is broken both tenants are charge and both tenants credit can be trashed by a judgement. Happy tenant may ask the LL if they could find another roommate to finish out the term but the LL is under no obligation to do so.

David Zheng · Answer

My lease has something to protect against this as well. I deal with mostly students by making each one sign a separate lease. Essentially the lease will say they have to pay $X amount (which is for the whole unit) and off to the side, I put $Y amount per tenant. In these regards, I believe they are still responsible for the whole unit rent whether its 1,2,or 3 tenants. I also have a clause that early termination for reasons within the tenant's control will mean they have to surrender 2.5 months of rent as a fee.  This way if 1 guy leaves the other dude hanging, he'll have to cover 2.5 months rent which is about 5 months of 1 guys rent anyways, therefore giving the other guy time to get out/find a roommate.

Tek Chai · Answer

Thanks @Bill S. for your advice.

Lesson learnt: It's best not to share lease with another tenant unrelated to you.Living alone is always less complicated.

Thomas S. · Answer

Happy and moving tenant have a problem to resolve that is not in the hands of the landlord. If one moves out the remaining tenant is fully responsible for the rent. The landlord retains the deposit and the two tenants work out how that is to be handled between them.

This is a tenant issue not a landlord issue until the remaining tenant decides they also want to move out.

This is one of the primary reasons landlords should avoid renting to friends living together to save money. It will always end this way. This landlord should have had these tenants on a M2M lease to allow him control of the situation.

Tek Chai · Answer

Thanks @John Anderson and @Nathan Gesner. The lease agreement is based on the Colorado Apartment Association. Yes it did have the "Joint and Several Liability"

29. MULTIPLE RESIDENTS OR OCCUPANTS.Each resident is jointly and severally liable for all Lease Contract obligations. If you or any guest or occupant violates the Lease Contract or rules, all residents are considered to have violated the Lease Contract. Our requests and notices (including sale notices) to any resident constitute notice to all residents and occupants. Notices and requests from any resident or occupant (including notices of Lease Contract termination, repair requests, and entry permissions) constitute notice from all residents. In eviction suits, each resident is considered the agent of all other residents in the apartment for service of process. Security-deposit refunds and deduction itemizations of multiple residents will comply with paragraph 42.

I will need to present this to the apartment leasing agent on how they usually deal with this similar situation.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Not an attorney but I read something once...

You should have a clause in the lease agreement addressing "joint and several liability". If you don't, you need to get a new attorney and a new lease agreement. Joint and Several Liability is a fancy way of saying that every person on the lease is 100% responsible for the terms.

If you have two tenants renting an apartment, it doesn't matter how much each tenant pays. All that matters is that you receive 100% of the rent in accordance with the terms of the agreement. If Tenant A pays 75% of the rent and Tenant B refuses to pay the remainder, you file an eviction because they failed to pay 100% of the rent. If Tenant B leaves, Tenant A pays 100% of the rent or you terminate.

When the tenants move out and leave $500 in cleaning or repairs, you charge both of them $500. If one of them pays, you cancel the charge to the other. Your goal - and their responsibility - is to ensure you collect 100% of the funds and the terms of the lease are 100% fulfilled.

By the by, just because Tenant B moves out doesn't mean they are released from all obligations. I would make it clear they are fully responsible unless released by all other parties, meaning you and the remaining Tenant. When someone wants to move out, I use a form that explains the remaining Tenant(s) is taking full responsibility for the terms of the lease, condition of the property, etc. I also state the security deposit remains in place and will only be refunded to the remaining Tenant(s) after complete termination. Any transfer of funds or release of liability is between them.

I also charge $50 for the time required to remove a tenant from the lease.

Barry H. · Answer

TEK - You can try to enforce the provisions of the lease with the moving tenant, but you are better off compromising to save your legal costs, because you WILL win in court and you will pay more to collect the judgment than it is worth.

I am going to admit at this point that I cannot read the tiny print of your lease, but this has happened to me a couple times and this is what I did:

1)  Ask Happy tenant of they wanna stay (knowing they cannot make the full rent)

a)  If the answer is YES - tell Happy he/she is liable for the whole rental amount regardless of what Mover tenant does

b)  Tell Happy to try to get a new roommate ASAP (you need to vett the person of course) and that you are gonna try to get some rent money out of Mover tenant to help out in the meantime (you are the good guy).

2)  Tell Mover tenant he/she is obligated for the ENTIRE amount of the lease until end of term (7 months).

a)  Ask Mover Tenant for 1 month FULL rent to allow Happy tenant to find a roommate and to avoid a judgment for 7 months of rent (and Mover tenant being unable to rent anywhere else in the future because of the judgment).

If Happy and Mover can at least come together to understand they are BOTH going to have a judgment against them for the FULL amount of unpaid rent to end of term (7 months) unless they work something out with you, they will work something out and you will probably move along not losing any overall rent.

If one or both gets all combative and argumentative with you, then remind them of damages that have occurred at the property since their occupancy (so security deposit is probably gone) and it looks like since cooler heads can't prevail, you are just giving notice to terminate the rental agreement due to Breach on the part of the Tenant and serve both of them with a Notice to vacate (if rent is unpaid) or just the 30 day notice to terminate the lease (if one or both have stated verbal he/she does NOT intend to pay full rent at next rental due date).  It's actually better if you can get Happy Tenant (or both) to put in writing they are terminating the lease early IN EXCHANGE for a month's rent (if that's all they can afford).  This is a worst case scenario, but you will end up keeping most/all of the security deposit, will MAYBE be out a month's rent and will get a better tenant.

Tek Chai · Answer

Thanks @Thomas S. for your input. In hindsight, an M2M lease is a better option, but it does have its pros and cons. The moving out tenant will have to take responsibility because she is the one who breaks the lease as suggested by Nathan G.. Yes it's between the tenants to work it out either to find a new replacement tenant in finish off the lease with approval/screening from the landlord and tenant

Tek Chai · Answer

Thanks @David Zheng for your post. The 2.5 months of rent as a fee is a great rental agreement for students sharing the same apartment.

Tek Chai · Answer

Thanks @Barry H. for you taking your time in explaining in the wee hour of the AZzzz morning. Like how you coined the "Happy" and "Mover tenants. I have just added an instruction if you click on the image, it will show a larger "cut and paste" Early Move Out clause from an actual Lease Agreement.

I am not the landlord but the representative of the "Happy" tenant.

What should one tenant do when the other wants out before lease..

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