On December 26, 2008 I signed a 1 year lease with a roommate in Roxborough, PA. (just outside Philadelphia)
In September the opportunity arose for me to move closer to the city. I spoke to my landlord and roommate about subletting the lease and moving as of Oct. 31st. Both agreed that was fine.
I told my roommate that I would only move if I could find a replacement for the apartment. I found someone to move in and she verbally agreed to a November 1st move in date.
I vacated the apartment on October 31st and left the key in the mail slot. I had paid 1st, last and one month security and left with the understanding that my roommate would send me a check for December rent once the new person moved in. The landlord returned my security deposit.
Although we were both on the lease, I would write 1 check directly to my roommate for the rent and bills and he would write a check to each utility company and the landlord. Also, I only spent about half the time in the apartment and was gone every weekend and all of July and August (except for 3 days). I paid in full for rent and utilities during this time even though I was caring for my grandfather in NY.
I contacted my old roommate asking for the December rent on 12/2/09.
On 12/6/09 I received an invoice statement from him. Apparently the girl who agreed to move in never did. At no point in the 7 weeks since I left the apartment did the old roommate contact me to tell me about this change. He has since found someone to move in on 12/15/09.
The invoice statement says that I owe him for November rent, 1/2 of December rent (which was already paid to the landlord) and utilities for October, November and 1/2 of December and money for paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels) for Jan - October 2009.
My questions are:
Am I responsible for utilities for the time that I was not in the apartment?
Also, I left with the understanding that someone was moving in. Since he never contacted me to inform me of the change I was denied the opportunity to continue finding a replacement. Am I now responsible for paying rent and utilities when he lived there alone and didn't inform me that there was a problem?
How can he include paper goods as part of the portion I owe him? At no point in the preceding 10 months did he ask for money to cover any shared household goods.
Any advice is welcome. I'm furious about this statement since I never would have left if I didn't secure a replacement and he never informed me that the replacement did not move in. Wasn't he legally obligated to tell me that the replacement fell through?