Q–My son was one of four students renting an apartment off campus in central Illinois. All four boys moved out in May, and frankly, did not leave the apartment in good shape.
In June one of the four boys got a letter from the apartment manager stating that approximately $1,700 was due for back rent, painting, carpet cleaning and similar cleanup. He told no one, including any of his three roommates, about the letter.
In August another one of the students, and his parents, who cosigned the lease, received a summons, in which $825 in attorneys’ fees and a $300 collection fee was added to the claim.
I have no problem paying one-fourth of the claim, since all of the parents guaranteed the lease, and we would be responsible for our son’s obligation. However, since that young man did not notify his roommates of the problem, the claim was almost doubled.
Also, we never received a summons. Nevertheless, we paid the entire claim, including the attorneys’ fees, collection fee and court costs as soon as we could.
Now the question is do we have any way of recovering from the other tenants any of the money we paid?
A–It is somewhat unfortunate that you paid the money claimed without first consulting an attorney. The attorneys’ fees seem a bit high considering the simplicity of the complaint that would have to be filed, and further considering that you did not take this matter through to trial. While attorneys’ fees might be allowable, if they are permitted to be claimed under the lease, a court will review the fees before awarding them, and simply because more than $800 in fees is claimed doesn’t mean that a judge is going to award that amount.
A judge would look at the amount of time spent and the complexity of the issues involved when determining the reasonableness of fees.
Put bluntly, this does not appear to be a case where fees allowed would equal almost half the amount of the claim, simply for filing a complaint.
In addition, unless there is some provision allowing a “collection fee” in the lease, a court is unlikely to grant that fee. Finally, it would be appropriate to examine the damages claimed, since the landlord would not be able to claim additional sums for repair of normal wear and tear. That being said, if you have already paid all of these sums, it is unlikely that you can reopen the case to review it further. However, you probably do have a claim for contribution against the other students and their cosigning parents.
Under the lease, all of the students, and their parents, are jointly and severally liable. That means that the landlord can collect some or all of any claim from any of the lease signatories. However, if the students, while living together, had an unwritten agreement to split the costs of the apartment evenly, then you should be able to rely upon that continuing agreement to claim from each other tenant family their proportionate share of your payments to the landlord. The decision you have to make is whether you want to file lawsuits against each of the other families who fail to reimburse you voluntarily. The cost of filing any of the lawsuits necessary for the relatively small amounts due may not be justified economically.
Q–I continually send in my rent check on time, and the landlord admits receiving it. However, we often get a call that he has lost or misplaced our rent payment, and he asks us to cancel the old check and issue a new one. That costs us money and is quite an inconvenience.
Do we have to continue doing this because of his carelessness?
A–Probably not. Your obligation is to deliver your check to your landlord, and you have met your obligation once he receives the check. At that point you have tendered payment and have met your obligation.
In the future, you should probably send your rent payment by certified mail, with return receipt, so that you can prove that the landlord received the rent. If the landlord thereafter loses the rent check, then you have the choice of repaying the rent, refusing to pay the rent again or, as a compromise, repaying the rent but charging the landlord for the costs you incur in canceling the previous payment and reissuing your rent check.
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Robert A. Boron, a Chicago attorney who specializes in leasing matters, writes about landlord and tenant issues for the Tribune.
Questions to him can be addressed to Rental Q&A, Your Place section, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. He also can be reached by e-mail at rabltd@aol.com.
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