I am renting one bedroom (with 2 roomates) of a three bedroom in Brookline (Tenancy at Will). I paid my rent and my security deposit directly to the landlord and did not have a prior relationship with the roomates and do not any written agreements with the landlord or roomates. When I found the apartment the roomrates placed the ad for the empty room, talked to me (made sure i was not a nut-case I guess) then passed me off to the landlord.
One the roomates has moved out (with prior notice < March 1) on April 1. The landlord seemed to reject every candididate for a new tenant we found in March, and now he just gave 30-day notice that we have to be out by May 1st (he's renting the whole place to his relative, which explains his reluctance to approve anyone we found).
That's his right, but he's also demanding that we pay the rent of the departed roomate for April (or he will take our security deposit).
My position is that we each have individual tenancy agreements with the landloard and are only responsible for our individual rents. We were helping him find another tenant, but are not legally responsible for the rent. Will the housing court agree?
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Editor's Response
Difficult to answer these questions without looking at the documents involved (and nearly impossible to guess what will happen at the Housing Court), but it sounds like you have a separate oral agreement with the landlord to rent your room, so I doubt the court will see it his way. If that is the case, it will be difficult for him to try to hold you liable for the responsibilities of roommates who have separate, presumably written, agreements with the landlord. In this situation, the landlord is taking a risk by keeping the deposit. If the landlord keeps your deposit in violation of the law, he may face triple damages. In that case, you can go to court and demand your deposit and, perhaps, damages. For more information about these issues, visit our MA Tenant Law Discussion Forum.