(18f) My Sister And Her Boyfriend Decided To Breached Our Lease Without My Consent, Am I Legally Held Liable? Losing Lots Of Money. (posting For My Girlfriend)

I live in New York State. My sister, her boyfriend, and I all signed a one-year lease through a realtor, and all three of us are listed on the lease.

The rent is $1,800 per month plus electric and heating oil. We agreed to split everything three ways, so each of us pays $600 per month. We also had to pay first month’s rent and a security deposit before moving in, so each of us paid $1,200.

I’m 18 years old, and this is my first time signing a lease. My sister and her boyfriend are both 21.

We moved into the house on the 31st, but the previous tenant was still moving out. He said he still had to clean, but my sister told him not to worry about it. He came iback the next day to patch a hole in the wall.

When we moved in, the house wasn’t in perfect condition. There were dirty spots, cleaning supplies and other random items left behind, and things stored under the beds. My sister and her boyfriend took pictures and sent them to the realtor asking for a rent discount because of the condition of the house.

We had only been living there for three days, and because we all had to work, we hadn’t finished cleaning the entire house. We cleaned the kitchen and bathroom because those were the rooms we needed to use, but we hadn’t had time to clean everything else yet.

In my opinion, the house was definitely livable. It just needed some extra cleaning and attention. The realtor also told us that the maintenance person would come fix anything that was broken.

This morning, my sister’s boyfriend suddenly decided we were moving out. He rented a U-Haul and started loading everything. He called his mom, and she told him to move everything out first and then email the realtor saying we had vacated the property. I never agreed that we should break the lease, and I didn’t want to move out. My boyfriend came and helped me move my belongings because everyone else was leaving, and I didn’t want to be left there alone.

The biggest problem is that I don’t have anywhere else to live. My sister and her boyfriend are moving back into their old apartment. They told me I could temporarily sleep on their couch, but I’m not allowed to keep any of my belongings there. I feel like I was forced into leaving even though I wanted to stay.

My sister’s boyfriend’s grandfather is a retired lawyer, and they want him to help them try to get out of the lease. They believe the landlord already breached the lease because the house wasn’t fully cleaned before we moved in, so they want to terminate the lease and get all of our money back.

I don’t necessarily agree with that approach, and I don’t want to do anything that could make me legally responsible if they’re wrong. Since this is my first lease, I’m worried about damaging my credit, being sued, or being held responsible for rent or other costs because of decisions they made that I didn’t agree with.

Location: New York