better understand joint and several liability

8/10/2019 Better Understand Joint and Several Liability

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Landlords Should Treat Tenant Roommates As One Person

To Better Understand Joint and Several Liability and

Resolve Tenant Disputes

Posted By Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. On September 22, 2011 @ 5:28pm In Collections,Joint & Several Liability,RentalAgreements,Roommates,Security Deposit. I receive many callsfrom landlords who have questions and concerns involving issuesinvolving their tenant roommates. While the problems are oftenfactually different the proper way to analyze the situation andarrive at a resolution to the problem, often depends on the samething something called joint and several liability.

Joint and several liability is a legal concept that, according toBlacks Law Dictionary [1], is defined as the liability of co-promisors of the same performance when each of them,individually, has the duty of fully performing the obligation. Aliability is said to be joint and several when the creditor maydemand payment or sue one or more of the parties to suchliability separately, or all of them together at his option.

Confused yet? Let me try and explain joint and several liabilitymore clearly than Mr. Black [2]did.

Essentially joint and several liability means that each individualtenant is responsible for the full amount of the rent as well as anyand all other obligations under the rental agreement.

I think it would be easier for landlords to comprehend the conceptof joint and several liability if they would just think of and treatroommates as one person.

Here is an example:

A Landlord enters into a 12 month lease with Tenant A, Tenant B,and Tenant C. The monthly rent is $750. The security deposit isalso $750.


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The Landlord needs to remember that he has one lease with threetenants NOTthree separate leases with one tenant. As such allthree tenants are responsible for the full amount of rent. All threetenants are responsible for abiding by the rules and regulations.

All three tenants are responsible for paying the security deposit.All three tenants are responsible for paying the full amount of anydamages to the rental unit.

Instead of taking $250 from Tenant A, B, and C for rent (or thesecurity deposit), the landlord should insist that rent be paid viaone payment for the full amount. When landlords accept $250from each tenant, the landlord is inadvertently telling the threetenants that each of them is only responsible for 1/3 of the rent

that is wrong. Remember treat the roommates as one person one person pays his entire rent not 1/3 of it.

I know many of you that have tenant roommates are thinkingthat there is nothing wrong with accepting three separate checksfor $250 from your three tenants. You are correct, nothing iswrong, there is nothing wrong with doing that . . . AS LONG ASALL OF THE TENANTS PAY RENT ALL OF THE TIME. Butproblems arise is when one tenant falls on hard times and doesnt

have the money to pay rent. It is at this point that the other twotenants start telling the landlord, well we paid my portion of therent so you cant evict us. WRONG.

Once again, think of roommates as one person. When you haveone tenant (no roommates), that tenant is responsible for payingthe entire amount of the rent not just a portion of it. The samegoes with roommates. One roommate is not just responsible forpaying 1/3 of the rent. Under joint and several liability, that onetenant roommate is responsible for paying all of the rent if the

other tenants dont pay any rent. If Tenant A and Tenant B haveno money to pay rent, then Tenant C better rise to the occasionand pay the full rent amount or else all three roommates can beevicted.


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Tenant roommates do not understand the concept of joint andseveral liability. I believe it is in the landlords best interest totake the time to teach his tenant roommates about joint andseveral liability and how it specifically applies to them and their

roommate situation. The best way to do demonstrate joint andseveral liability to your tenant roommates, after you have had thediscussion with them, is to make them write one check for rent. Itell my roommate tenants that they must pay rent with onecheck. I dont care who pays it but I will only accept one checkfor the full amount of rent. The tenants can fight amongstthemselves as to how they divide up the rent amount or whoowes what to whom. How they do that should not be thelandlords concern. The landlord wants to impress upon his tenant

roommates that he expects the full amount of rent each monthand if they do that then they can remain as tenants. If not, thenthey will be evicted.

So while it may seem a bit much to refuse to take more than onerent check from tenant roommates, I believe by making thetenants understand that they are not responsible for just aportion of the rent, a landlord can avoid a lot of problems in thefuture.

Lets turn our focus to tenant roommates and the securitydeposit. If a landlord makes the mistake of accepting $250 fromeach of his three tenant roommates to apply to the $750 totalsecurity deposit, I believe that the landlord is sending his newtenants the wrong message again. Whether he is aware of it ornot, the landlord has unintentionally informed his tenants thateach of them are only responsible for 1/3 of the security depositand therefore only responsible for 1/3 of any damage to the unit.

How many times have you heard one tenant say that the hole inthe wall was caused by the other roommate who came homedrunk one night and put his fist through the drywall? And thenthe next comment out of that tenants mouth was, so you shouldtake the cost to repair that wall out of hisportion of the securitydeposit.


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Each tenant is jointly and severally liable for paying the totalamount of the security deposit and for the total amount of anydamage caused to a rental property regardless of which tenantcaused the damage. A tenant roommate is not just responsible

for his portion of any damage. Under joint and several liability,if the cost to repair the wall is $500 then the landlord can keep$500 of the security deposit and the three roommates can fightover how to split up the remaining $250.

What if your tenant roommates cause major damage to the rentalunit that goes well beyond the security deposit on hand. Lets saythe damages total $5,000. Under the concept of joint and severalliability, a landlord can choose to sue all three of the tenants for

the $5,000 or the landlord can choose to sue only two of them forthe $5,000 (the two that are gainfully employed, for example) orthe landlord could even opt to sue just one of the threeroommates for the entire $5,000.

Assuming the landlord could prove his damages and meet hisburden of proof, the court could rightfully enter a judgment of$5,000 against only Tenant A, if that is the only tenant that thelandlord sued. This is true even if it was Tenant C that caused theactual damage. The landlord could then pursue and collect theentire $5,000 from Tenant A. It would then be up to Tenant A tosue either Tenant B or Tenant C, or both, if he so chooses.

Please note that joint and several liability does not allow alandlord to obtain a double or triple windfall. A landlord cantsue each tenant individually for the full $5,000 and end up withthree judgments totaling $15,000. This is why the most practicalcourse of action is typically for the landlord to sue all threetenants for the entire $5,000 and then decide which tenant is

more collectible (and often more responsible) and pursue thecollection of the judgment against only that one tenant.

Now, lets assume there is no damage to the rental unit after thethree tenants move out and therefore the entire security depositwill end up being returned. How is the landlord to return the


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better understand joint and several liability

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