Q: I need help with paying off a debt that I’m not the only one responsible for.
Two friends of mine and I signed a year long lease. We agreed every month we’d split the bills for the apartment three ways. In March, they bailed on me and moved back to Mississippi. We will receive an invoice for the settlement agreement (~10K), but I don’t know who they’re sending it to. I’m afraid they will send it to me, and the other two parties that signed the lease will bail on me again to deal with the debt alone. -I will mention that in the months living in the apartment, I was the only one paying the bills period. So not only did they force me to give them a free place to live, but I’m afraid they will force me to pay off the settlement agreement on my own which we all signed.
A:
Unfortunately, even though all of you are on the lease, the landlord can seek payment from any one of you. Since you all signed the settlement agreement, you are all responsible for payment. However, unless other language was included in the agreement, you are all joint and severally liable for the payment due. If they can get the money from one of you, then they won't look to the other individuals for payment. Since you all signed the document, any documents related to the settlement should be sent to all three of you. If the landlord does not have the addresses for the other two, perhaps you need t provide the addresses. If you wind up paying the settlement, you would have claims against the other two for their portion of the settlement. However, that would require suing them.
Have you been in communication with them? Are they willing to each send in 1/3 of the amount? Being the good guy, you provided a living space without them paying. Not a good decision apparently.
Christopher Crull agrees with this answer
A: You maybe able to get out of the lease by filing bankruptcy. Bankruptcy can allow one to reject a lease and walk away from the debt including debts with landlords. If you have not already done so you may want a bankruptcy lawyer to examine your financial situation to see if bankruptcy is a good route for you.
Christopher Crull agrees with this answer
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