to not want to pay ex?

[emmam25]

I will try and keep this as short as I can whilst also getting the facts across.

About this time last year I was living with ex-p in an expensive rented house which we could only afford as we were both on equivalent salaries and could both pay half the rent.

We moved 2 years ago when his job moved across country. I had to leave everything, get a new job which I wasn't happy with and found it very difficult but was committed to the relationship, wanted to make it work etc.
However, over time I became depressed, started taking anti-depressants. I was probably a bit of a nightmare to live with.

Last year he decided he wanted to leave me. His job meant he could get accommodation for next to nothing through work so he moved out and left me with the house which I couldn't afford.

Although I was upset I quite quickly realised it was better for me. I started feeling less depressed, got off the anti-depressants and with A LOT of emotional and financial support from family, I decided to buy my own place that I could afford.

Buying took a long time and I spent nearly 6 months in the rented house on my own before I could move. It was a struggle for me to pay the rent but just about managed it with zero disposable income and selling a few possessions.
In that time I also met new partner and fell pregnant - bit quick I know!

Anyway, ex-p had paid the deposit on the rented house (which was substantial) and when I finally left the house the landlord made some deductions from the deposit. I did my best to leave the house in a reasonable standard but there was some damage that had been done at the point when we both lived there.

Ex-p now wants me to pay him half the amount the land lord deducted from the deposit which amounts to a few hundred pounds.

I can see his POV, we both lived there so share responsibility for the deposit but I am now in a VERY different situation. He made the choice to leave me which left me in a very difficult situation financially where as he was much better off by leaving.

To top it all off soon after finding out I was pregnant my new partner was made unemployed through no fault of his own so now my salary has to cover the whole household expenses with a baby on the way.

Ex-p is still single, paying virtually nothing for his living costs. So although I'm sure he would like the extra cash, he's not going to be struggling on the breadline without it.

Am I being unreasonable for not wanting to pay him? Or should I just try to scrape the money together/ not buy as much for baby / be even more austere and get him off our backs so new partner and I can get on with our lives?

Thanks for sticking with me if you read all that and I won't take offense at honest opinions.

Go on as he started this pettyness.
Inform him how much he owes you and sit back and wait...
As collaborate says you are legally in the right to bill him for half rent he owes you.

If you both signed a lease, you are both liable for costs. that means that your ex will be liable for half the rent from the time he stopped paying until the end of the lease.

As for the security deposit, if he were to sue you for his half of what remains, he might well succeed.

He was liable for the rent even if he moved out unless he tried to get the contract cancelled, at least for what would have been the notice period.

He just walked out, knowing you'd struggle to pay the rent and didn't offer to cover the costs - he has no right to ask for the deposit money unless he's prepared to pay you back for his share of the rent.

I wouldn't give him a penny.
Years ago my exh left me and our 2 dc two days before the rent was due...my dad had to lend me the £600 for rent and the cheque for dc playgroup bounced so that was another £120..6 months later when I was allocated a housing association property he piped up and asked for at least half the deposit back....he swiftly got told where to go!!!

I'm confused as to what exP is asking for - I think it is the following so cannot understand why people think that emmam owes him money?

Emmam and exP rented a house and put down a deposit together. When emmam left the house, the landlord deducted £600 from the deposit becuase of damage that was caused when she and exP lived in the house together.

exP is now asking for £300 - half of the money that the landlord has withheld from the deposit (he is not asking for half the deposit money that emmam got back - sounds like he already has that). How can it be fair that emmam gives exP £300 to compensate him for the landlord witholding money from the deposit?

He lived there too. Even if it was for less time than emmam, why on earth would she give him half? I can perhaps understand emmam thinking she should give him some of the WITHELD deposit money (money she has not received back from the landlord) based on prorata for the amount of time they lived there together vs emmam living there on her own. But not half.

None of this matters anyway when he didn't uphold his end of the tenancy agreement and actually owes emmam three months of half the rent that she had to pay on her own to see out the notice period.