How would you handle this request from a tenant who was evicted?

Two tenants total (roommates). One tenant pays 50% of the rent on time and in full. The other tenant stops paying completely and the first tenant can not afford to fulfill the lease alone. Cue 14 day notice, eviction filing, money/possession judgment awarded, tenants vacate, sent to collections, etc.

The tenant who did pay is applying for a new apartment and asks you for a residency verification...and wants you to vouch for him by writing a letter saying the eviction occurred “through no fault of his own because he paid his half.”

Our verification form is very cut and dry. Dates of the lease, names of all tenants, number of late payments, number of returned payments, were they evicted or a skip (Y/N), did they give proper NTV, and outstanding balance if any. We don’t elaborate or get into the details. And the form speaks for the unit as a whole, not for the individual tenants.

I really feel for him, but at the same time, in the lease there’s technically no such thing as “his half.” Jointly and severally liable = he’s not individually responsible for 50%, they’re both collectively AND individually responsible for 100%.

What would you do?

Nothing you can do . Roommate or not rent wasn’t paid eviction occurred. You can’t sugar coat for one no matter what

Copy of the ledger that will show his payments. Other then that not much.

I wouldn’t write anything favorable for the tenant who paid the partial rent, that could fare against you in your eviction case if it’s not already complete, as well as if one or both of them sue you in relationship to the eviction case in the future. It’s unfortunate, but you need to protect your community.

We have to do the right thing, in the end, they are liable. It's hard not to get your feelings involved but we have to stay consistent.

Unless this is student housing hes screwed. Feelings have no place in filling out a verification. Always go with facts. Who has paid and who hasnt is between the roommates not Mgmt.

They are both equally responsible for the full portion. It’s unfortunate, but it was up to them to pay the full amount regardless of who paid what. You have to fill out the verification based on the unit as a whole.

Have a heart if you know he paid write the letter us property managers need to show compassion sometimes rules are ment to bend

Joint and severally liable. When you sign a lease with someone you agree that you are each liable financially for the full responsibilty of that rent. Harsh but I always used to make sure that all my roommates understood that before they signed the lease.

My daughter (19) is talking about moving out. This is EXACTLY what we fear with the friend she’s scheming with. It’s a hard lesson to learn. If only people like this would choose to room with each other, not their flakey friends.

Give him his ledger, let him worry about what to do with the info - he can show them these are his payments.

I would fill out the form honestly, and then add the notes explaining the situation. Yes he is equally responsible for the entire lease, so yes he was evicted etc but there is nothing wrong with telling the other half of the story, that he did in fact pay his part on time. You can’t change the eviction on his record and you can’t lie about the overall situation but if telling the WHOLE story allows the new landlord to consider the applicant then so be it. You wouldn’t be breaking any laws and you don’t know what their leasing policies are, maybe they are willing to look past it and give him a chance and that’s their prerogative. Just tell the whole story and let them decide what to do with the information

Understood, but those forms usually have a comment section where you can explain what happened

Unfortunately he is responsible. Hopefully he kept receipts or can show that he paid half the rent. Then he would have to take the roommate to court. On our rental verification forms, there is a section asking if there is any other info in regards to his tenancy. If there is such a section on a rental verification form you receive for him, you could say that he had to move as his roommate was not paying his half and he couldn’t afford it on his own. I would check with your attorney first though

And think about it.. the room mate that dropped the ball passed the screening process did he/she not? So y’all trusted them enough to lease them the apartment, so to say that the other room mate was wrong to trust him/her with a shared lease is a little bit harsh. Stuff happens in life, we don’t know why the one room mate ran out of money and wasn’t able to pay - maybe it was irresponsibility or maybe it was beyond their control but either way public records and credit bureau will make it hard enough for either of them to find a home, so why insist on refusing to be honest regarding the one piece of information that the paying room mate has in their favor?

Nothing you can do except as the lease stated. They are equally responsible. We as managers can not make exceptions as that would be construed as favoritism.

Never take partial payments .. we require one form of payment for the total due ... sad for the one who paid on time and it was accepted as his rental history based on both of them

If you don't want it in writing then tell him to have the other community call you and that you can at least verbally vouch that he was the one paying his half but in the end they got evicted as he couldn't cover his roommate's portion too.

1. Remove your personal thoughts & feelings. Complete the form honestly.
2. Provide a copy of the ledger if you can. This will help new landlord read between the lines.
3. Know that you have learned from this experience. Consider this: I require all roommates to qualify individually. If they do not, I will allow a guarantor (co-signer). This will prevent something like this from happening in the future.

I have this same thing happened when I was working in California and a roommate paid on time and the other just stop paying completely and they got evicted and she wanted me to do the same thing and I had to explain to her that both of their names are on the lease so they were both equally responsible even though she paid her half on time there was nothing I could do for her

You can only go by what is stated in the lease agreement. Roommate’s are equally responsible. This is the risk the resident takes when moving in with a roommate.

Go by the terms of the lease!

Jointly & severally liable is how most leases read. While it sucks that he could’ve picked a better roommate he needs to understand that you cannot perjure yourself.

Give a fair and honest reference. The tenant was always pleasant to deal with, the place was tidy on inspections etc. Include the financial information only offer the ex tenant an opportunity to include the statement that the outstanding balance is being resolved through a mutually agreed payment agreement.
Then, you increase your collections and they get the opportunity to tell the new landlord their story and add that they are handling their financial obligations to you.

It’s a very sad situation and you’re correct they are both liable. I always cautioned roommates to be sure they knew what they were getting into..

I had a similar situation. I was just honest and let the new landlord decide how they wanted to take it. "She paid her rent on time, her roommate didn't, they were evicted."

There is nothing wrong with filling out the form but including a side note. It may help but it will be up to new landlord to take a chance or not.

No mercy dude .... what how is this even a question ?? Yes he could have paid “his half” but at the end of the day he knew that if the whole rent wasn’t paid , it fell on him just as it did the other roommate. I would have kicked my roommate out and either found another roommate immediately or found a damn way to pay the rent.
He was irresponsible. That’s the entire point of a rental verification . To verify responsibility.

They were jointly responsible. This is why I hate "roommate" situations and I always tell all parties that everyone on the lease is jointly responsible. My office won't take partial payments either.

They were responsible jointly and severely. No can do.

Jointly and severally.... you are right on there! Taking that a bit further, they’d both have it on their credit for the full amount of the debt, and therein lie the source of the current and future pressure/motivation to get the debt paid.
The lease compliant one could solve this by paying the other half and suing his roommate, and that’s what he should do. You didn’t pick his roommate for him.
So in saying that, I am saying I would not do it.
Further, because the debt and the difficulties it poses is the motivation for resolution, any effort you engage in to relieve that pressure is, my opinion, a violation of your fiduciary duty to the Owners/Investors you serve. Now I get that sounds harsh. Please know it is not my intention to be “judgy.” My intent it to provoke thought.
So with that I’ll close by asking: Would you, if you owned a house and had a management firm managing it for you, want your PM to alleviate that pressure for either of the Customers/Tenants? Would you want your PM to possibly, by that action, ensure that only 50% of the leaseholders would be motivated to pay?

My lease says joint and severally responsible take your personal feelings out of it. Remember fair housing what you do for one you have to do for all!

Personally, I would write him the letter. It’s hard enough in this world, helping him doesn’t hurt you

Instead of a letter, I would offer to chat with new landlord. Anything in writing puts you and your company at a slightly higher risk.

the topic could be presented at lease time. that is the time to measure the commitment of each party in a nonrelative/room mate leasing contract

The way I see it, there are two parts to this: 1) Collection of debt relating to the eviction. 2) Letter to future landlord. If what he is asking creates problems with the first part, obviously nothing can be done. If it is just the second part, where all they want is a reference, then what is the goal here? The goal is for the future landlord to ascertain whether they will pay rent on time. You have clear evidence that the resident absolutely did pay rent on time. Does telling the future landlord that they were evicted, but this particular resident paid on time create some sort of legal liability down the road? I'm no lawyer, so I can't say, but I would doubt it. If we are just talking about the second part and it is just a letter, I would say it falls into the category of doing the right thing.

TENANT WHOM DID PAY ON TIME , IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF THE TENANT WHOM DID NOT PAY ON TIME, WHICH RESULTED IN EVICTION, TIME, EXPENSES, COST, TO THE LANDLORD, AND THEREFORE, BEARS THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EVICTION, AND COST, BUT LANDLORD, SHOULD TAKE NO ACTIONS TO HARM SAID TENANT, DUE TO LIABILITY, LANDLORD COURT BE SUED FOR DAMAGING THE INDIVIDUAL, IN REPLY, ONLY STATE THE FACTS, LEASE STARTED, LEASE AMOUNT, LEASE ENDED, REASON FOR TERMINATION, AND THAT IS ALL !

I used to tell my residents in student housing and their guarantors that they're all liable so choose your roommates wisely bc I can't evict half an apartment and you chose you roommate, not me.

And how is that any different than a family where thereally is a job loss or lazy household member.

Stay out of residents' personal issues and report the facts.