My lease ends May 31. Me and my roommate are looking for separate apartments when our lease ends.
She messaged me Monday that she’s not going to try to keep our current apartment, and wants to leave by the end of April ( one month before the lease ends ). I said sure I’ll just pay her portion of the rent for May once she is gone.
The problem happened when I talked to the landlord and they said they allow dogs, but not Pitbulls. My next roommate has a pitbull so I won’t be able to stay at my current apartment and have them as a roommate.
I messaged my current roommate today saying I can’t take over the lease at our current place because the dog breed restriction, and therefore can’t cover her portion of rent for May. I need to save up for a security deposit for my next apartment and first months rent.
We have a text exchange I’ll share in the comments if the mods allow it.
Basically I tried to be nice (and would have been) by covering a month of my roommates rent. I can’t afford to do that now because there is a dog breed restriction on my apartment and I have to find a new place.
When we signed the lease we both knew it was for 12 months, I don’t think it’s wrong of me to expect us to split rent for 12 months. I did say I would pay her portion of rent for 1 month though so I might be TAH. What do you think?
This whole thing has happened over 4 days.
ESH
You shouldn’t have promised without actually checking the lease restrictions
If she doesn’t pay, it’ll screw ypu both
This. It was nice of the op to offer this but they should have checked restrictions first
NTA – you tried to be nice when you didn’t have any obligation to pay her portion. It sucks for her that your situation changed, but that’s not your fault. She can be mad all she wants, but ultimately it’s still her responsibility to pay — she might not see it that way though.
ESH. Don’t offer something like that unless you are absolutely sure. She is legally obligated to pay the rent though.
Just fyi, you are likely going to run into issues with a LOT of apartments having similar breed restrictions. It’s going to be harder than you realize to find a place.
Text chain texts. I replaced the name of my apartment complex with YYY
Monday
HER
i’m prob gonna start packing soon i don’t have a lease elsewhere yet but im planning on being out end of april
Hey i am not going to be renewing at YYY so if you want to renew the lease for this apt u can
ME
Sounds good our lease isn’t over until the end of May but if you want to leave before that I can just pay for May myself
HER
it just depends on when i find an apartment tbh! but im hoping by the 1st of may
Tuesday
ME
I think I’m going to be moving out YYY also. They don’t allow pitbulls and the person from (my next roommate) has one.
Wednesday
HER
it’s pretty hard to find any apartments that allow pit bulls sadly
ME
I think I’ll find one that just says a weight limit and not tell them the type of dog
Thursday
ME
Just a heads up because I also have to move out in May. I can’t afford to pay double rent for May. I also have to save up a security deposit in the first month’s rent
HER
what
i can’t afford to pay rent to you and rent somewhere else for a month especially if my rent is going to be 1k. i thought you said that you’d be able to cover it, don’t u have someone taking over the lease
ME
So if I was going to stay at YYY I would have just covered your portion of rent for May. I can’t afford that anymore because I have to pay for a security deposit for a new apartment and the first month’s rent and my YYY amount of rent. Can you get a place that starts at the end of May like I’m looking at
Have you found a place yet? If you get a place for the last week of May like I’m looking for then you only have to pay for one week of May on the new place
I can’t take over the YYY apartment because they don’t allow pitbulls, otherwise I would have been fine just taking over the lease in May
HER
i haven’t found a place yet, are you saying i have to pay for may at YYY and at another place? i cant afford that.
you haven’t saved anything for a security deposit? ?
ME
Not yet because I thought I would be able to take over YYY but I talked to them today and they don’t allow pitbulls.
HER
okay, i’m sorry about that. but i would rather have something in line for myself so i have something to fall back on. i’m sorry if you can’t afford one month of rent, but i have been saving up for a while now for a new apartment and don’t want to postpone my lease due to a dog
ME
What? We both signed a lease for 12 months. I was going to let you skip on the last month, but I can’t do that anymore
HER
The neighbor has a dog, I understand, but I have to get a lease as soon as I can in order for me and (her next roommate) leases to line up. Anywhere you go is not going to allow pitbull’s. They’re a very stigmatized breed
it’s really inconvenient for you to go back on what you promised as I already have multiple showings lined up. I don’t want to leave my apartment hunting last minute because you want a pitbull. or are getting a roommate with a dog? I’m not sure why that has anything to do with me.
if i’m not mistaken the neighbor has a pitbull as well. as i said, anywhere you go, they’ll advertise dog friendly but most likely will have the exception of pit bulls. ngl, if u want to have the dog in the house you’re just going to have to lie & claim u don’t have a dog or lie about its breed. i can see what’s available for june , but it’s definitely frustrating with u going back on ur word. i don’t like leaving things like housing unplanned for or unstable.
Should say if anything you did her a favor by trying to find someone to COVER HER portion of the rent because it’s HER portion not YOURS. Do not budge an inch on making sure it’s clear it’s her portion and always has been for the duration of the lease. Don’t let that budge who cares the sob story just tell her sorry I know it’s rough but you signed on for 12 months and maybe she can sublet for a month but that’s her responsibility.
If she can’t afford to pay rent to 2 places in May, it sounds like she already expected you to cover her portion when she started making plans. If I were you, I would be firm about the fact that you’re planning to pay YOUR portion of May’s rent and that HER portion of May’s rent is between her & your landlord, but it’s not (and never has been) your responsibility. Assuming you’re both on the lease, you should pay your portion and let him & her sort out the rest.
In any case, if she couldn’t afford the thing she was planning to do (which was always going to mean owing rent in 2 places at once — unless, again, she was counting on you being a sucker), then she shouldn’t have been planning to do it in the first place.
NTA You tried to mitigate her portion but it fell through. So she has to pay as she otherwise would have had she remained.
NTA. Unless she has been an irresponsible idiot, then she shouldn’t be in any of a different financial position now than she would have been had you not tentatively offered to cover the rent. Nothing you said or she said made your tentative offer turn into a binding agreement. You cannot compel someone to give you something just because they offered that they might do so. Just be clear with her that she’ll need to cover her share of the rent any time it comes up going forward. Never allow any space in the dialogue for her to claim it was unclear at this point or any future point.
YTA
That’s like telling someone you’re forgiving their loan, then a circumstance out of their control happens and you say “no wait, you have to pay”
Legally, you’re in the right and the other person needs to pay their half. But you’re still the asshole.
You have been an AH to yourself in volunteering to pay HER rent.
But IMO you are perfectly justified in now asking her to pay it.
NTA
Maybe find someone without a dog for a roommate?
NTA. You tried to be nice, but now circumstances have changed, and she’s still legally obligated to the lease she signed.
Yeah, a strong ESH. I understand you were operating on a different assumption at the time you told her you’d cover her portion, but that’s not something you should have ever committed too, unless you were a hundred percent certain. Shit happens, I get it, but still.
As for her part? Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what you initially had told her. Things changed. She signed a 12 month lease, she’s legally obligated to stick to that. I suppose she could treat that text like a written agreement on your part, but I feel like your wording is too vague for that to ever hold up. Still, if she’s petty, she could try.
And as others have said, you’re going to find a helluva time finding an apartment that’s cool with pit bulls.