Should I sue my apartments?

I moved into my apts. back in Feb. of 06. I lived there with two other roommates. Well they wanted to have the apt. to themselves as guy and me being the only girl I said fine so I left but they stayed. I wanted my name off the lease and went to the office. They stated in front of my mom that the only way to get my name off the current lease was to sign a new lease with them and my name would get taking off the first one and put on the new one. I didn't get it written on paper but I do have a witness. Well I signed the new lease Sept of 06. well my old roommates skipped out in Nov of 06. a month after I moved into the new apt. well a year and a half go by and I am trying to move and all of a sudden I owe them almost $500. So when I signed the new lease with the same complex they say they had me on two leases at one time. Well this causes my $0 deposit for the new apt to disappear and now I have to pay $650. I feel my old apts. messed up and shouldn't of had me on two leases at once.

I think its all your fault. You were told what to do AND you didn't do it.

You didn't get your former roommates to come in and sign a new lease.

You didn't check with the apartment's management to find out if your former room mates came in to sign a new lease.

You didn't get anything in writing. You didn't send any one a letter as to the conversation.

As they say in the business: You didn't CYA
Cover Your Assets.

Thanks for asking your Q! I know you wanted an answer in your favor. However, I believe my answer may not be the best answer, but I truly believe its the right answer.

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!

My understanding is that to take your name off the old lease your roommates would have needed to sign a new lease without your name on it. Otherwise, they were still living under the old lease that still listed you. My guess is that either you misunderstood the conversation or the apartment manager lied to you. Unfortunately, without written proof of this promise, it鈥檚 your word against theirs.

Why shouldn鈥檛 an apartment allow you to rent multiple units? There鈥檚 no inherent reason to prohibit that.

Actually, YES you can and should sue them. They're at fault for signing and accepting two leases from one person!

Take them to task, big time.

Also, alternatively, you can and should complain to your state authorities.

Your mom being the only witness besides them is a conflict of interest, and holds no baring. On the other hand, they should not have put you on two different leases. That's where they will be held accountable.

The fact that you have two leases and can only live in one place proves (to me) that they made a mistake. I think you would win in small claims. They are trying to make you pay for their mistake.

You could try small claims court, but be advised that you may not win, unless there have been other claims against this landlord in the past. Your mom is not a credible witness because she is your mom. They have the paperwork with your signature on it, you don't have anything to disprove them. Even though you are right, legally there may not be anything you can do.

There is nothing illegal about management having you on two leases. You apparently made the error of singing a new lease without insuring that, in writing, you were relieved of the previous lease. Management would not be able to release you from that earlier lease without the signatures of the other parties to the lease. Yes, when a contract is changed, it takes the signatures of ALL parties to the contract to effect a legal change.

Your mother will not considered an independent witness (without bias), since she IS your mother.

Sad to say, this is probably going to be an expensive lesson for you to learn.