Roomate's Security Deposit Refund As Rent?
1st time poster....I rent a house to 3 people, one of which is moving out. She bounced her last rent check, and wants me to use a portion of the security deposit to cover her check. In my opinion, I should not have to use a portion of the deposit. I feel it's the responsibility of the other roomates to cover her deposit. I will be short a third of the security deposit until the new roomate moves in, in two months....comments please.
As a landlord, you shouldn't be concerned about the roommate status of your renters. They have a lease, they pay the rent. If one of them moves out, the rent is still due. If one persons check bounced, then the others should cover it and the returned check fee... end of story.
Do you have 1 lease with all 3 names
or
a lease with each person?
Is she skipping out on her lease?
one rental agreement with all three listed
You may have a problem then as in Florida you cannot accept partial payment and start eviction (in the mere chance she doesn't move out) LOL, they all say they are moving out. I agree with the other person in that it is the other two staying parties to get all of the rent.
[addsig]
Ok, so they have already found their replacement roomie.
The remaining roomies are responsible for
1. Bringing the rent current and
2. Paying the moving roomie for her share of the deposit, so.....
They need to rectify the situation w/the roomie.
It is true that if you try to evict (which it sounds like you really don't want to do), you would be seen as accepting a partial payment.
You need to educate your roomies to the fact that they are 'One entity, One family' in your dealings and they need to work out the quirks amongst themselves. I don't even like taking checks from various entities, I want 1 contact lead if I have roomies. Keeps them clear that I am not part of their relationship.