A New Jersey man doesn’t have to pay rent incurred by his ex-wife after he moved out of a Jersey City apartment they once shared, an appeals court ruled.

A Superior Court judge in Hudson County ruled on July 11, 2025, that Timothy Proudman owed $8,523.56 in back rent, plus court costs and that the landlord could keep the apartment’s $4,500 security deposit.

Timothy Proudman and Andrea Proudman Reilly signed a 15-month lease with landlord Bekir Kulozu for a $3,000-per-month apartment in Jersey City. The lease ran from Jan. 26, 2023, through April 30, 2024.

The couple later split up, and Timothy Proudman moved out before the lease ended.

Proudman gave the landlord notice that he was leaving, which the landlord does not dispute, according to the appellate court’s ruling.

After the landlord proposed a lease renewal with a rent increase, Proudman emailed him on May 2, 2024, and “made clear that he was not interested in renewing and that he would not be responsible for any rent if his ex-wife remained on the premises after the lease term ended,” the appellate decision said.

Reilly stayed in the apartment for four months after the lease ended, did not pay rent and was evicted, court documents say.

The landlord filed a case in the Special Civil Part of Superior Court in Hudson County in November 2024, seeking four months’ unpaid rent, late fees and damages for belongings left in the apartment.

Proudman argued that his liability ended when the 15-month lease expired and that the landlord illegally retained the security deposit.

The trial court ruled that even though Proudman paid all the rent for the 15-month lease, his liability as a cosigner remains in effect until he legally separates himself from it.

Appellate Court Judges Jack M. Sabatino and Lisa Perez Friscia decided on Sept. 17 that the trial court erred in finding Proudman liable for post-term rent under a month-to-month holdover tenancy because his ex-wife solely occupied the apartment and he had notified the landlord that he had moved out.

The case was sent back to the trial court to reconsider the security deposit.

Neither an attorney for Proudman nor Kulozu, who represented himself, responded to a request for comment.