Tenant Lease
Hi,
I have recently claimed bankruptcy. Last October I shared an apartment with my son in Edmonton, Alberta. I re-located there from Ontario as he was struggling health wise and needed some parental assistance. After nine months I came back to Ontario due to a family emergency and have had to stay to assist elderly parents. Son was supposed to have my name taken off lease and left in his name. He has just recently lost his job. I called apt complex to have name taken off lease – they said now that he is unemployed, they cannot take me off. If he defaults on rent payments, can they come after me even though I have recently claimed bankruptcy here in Ontario.
The short answer is “maybe” – it will depend on how knowledgeable their legal counsel is and whether or not they feel you have the ability to pay.
I suggest you advise your trustee of the contingent obligation to pay the lease so that they may notify the landlord of your bankruptcy. That may be sufficient to dissaude the landlord from pursuing you – why pursue someone that doesn’t have any money?
I should warn you that the landlord might advance the argument that at the time you filed bankruptfcy there was no debt as the rent was current. As a co-signer to the lease they might argue that you may be held responsible because the default (if there is one) happened after you filed for bankruptcy and therefore should be excluded from the procedure.
This isn’t much help, but all you can do (after you have your trustee send them the notice of your bankruptcy) is wait and see what the landlord decides to do…