My roommate, let's call her Cathy, was my roomate along with two other girls in a 1 year contract at an apartment complex. When our lease was about to be up, my parents bought a two bedroom townhouse and I am renting the other room to my previous roommate, Cathy. We are both college students. I offered her the opportunity to rent the other room in the townhouse, with the implied meaning of a 1 year contract, based on the Fall and Spring semester of college. The previous apartment contract we had just completed was for one year, and one of our roommates moved out before the ending of the contract and was expected to pay her part of the rent even though she was not living there. Also, Cathy's boyfriend is in a 1 year contract that he is unable to get out of, so it is easily implied that our contract is for one year or atelast through the school year. In a text message telling me she is moving out, while I am home for Christmas, she she seems to understand that moving out right now was not part of the contract (names have been changed):

"I was thinking now that you and josh are engaged, that you might want the apartment to yourselves, and now that I am going to have to pay for next years school, that I might think about moving in with greg. But I dont want to leave you. And pile on the expenses, we had never talked about me leaving before i just wanted to see how you felt. I wont do it if it leaves you in a bad place with your parents. That is not what I wanted to do at all is just up and leave. But I wasnt sure how you were thinking. I just wanted to throw the idea out there in case things had changed with you and josh now. Otherwise I would stay till the end of the year , you know? But is was just an idea. I definitely do not want to screw you over in the middle of the year."

Those were her exact words before she text messaged me the next night saying she is moving out and has already started moving her stuff. Now, my problem is that because she was a friend I did not have her sign a lease, but it was definately implied that she would be staying with me for a year. I offered her a deal for breaking her contract that was for her to pay january in full, pay half for the next three months, and forget the summer months all together. However, if I find a roomate before then, I would reconsider the payments. Also, she NEVER once offered to help me find another roommate! The people I have talked to all had the understanding that our agreement was for a year. Any "reasonable person" would have the understanding that a lease would be for one year, especially a full school year, when the two roommates were just in a 1 year contract, and Cathy's boyfriend is in a 1 year contract. She is refusing to pay and says that there was no agreement and yet she pretty much wrote in her text messages that she understood it was wrong of her to move out "in the middle of the year".

I want to know if I have a legitimate case and if it would hold up in small claims court. I am not a mean person and I am not doing this out of spite, but I do deserve to get what is owed to me.

I would greatly appreciate your help on this issue!

Thanks,
Volley

Sorry but what you have is a monthly contract. Unless you can prove that there was a verbal contract for a one year lease you have nothing but your word against hers. You made two mistakes. 1. You rented to a friend. 2. You did not have her sign a one year lease. Hopefully you will learn from your experience. There is a general rule amongst landlords, never rent to family or friends. About the only thing you can do is sue her for one months rent, since she didn’t give a written notice.