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Messy Roomate Situation
Komplex
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I find myself in my first roommate situation and I was wondering if anyone here could offer up some insight.
Background informarion.
Myself, my girlfriend, her younger sister (lets call her S), and her sister's "best friend" (let's call her A) Move into a 4 bedroom house and sign a year long lease. We move in on April 15th. My girlfriend and I take the top of the house, and the two younger girls take the basement.
Flash froward to july 30th. A informs us that she wants to move out. She cites the reason of money as the primary issue. We try to come up with a plan, for her which would involve reduced rent but she refuses. She then moves out on August 15th.
We are requesting that she pay us 2 months rent (minus utilities), to help us untill we can put some money aside for the extra rent, or till we find a suitable replacement. A decideds that she doesn't want to pay that, and then refers me to craigslist and implys that it is my job to find a replacement for her.
I talk with my landlord and he decides to get involved and phones A and asks her to call him back. A then tells landlord that the reason for her leaving was really our illicit drug use.
So that is the situation.
- There is infact drug use in our household. She has no proof.
- I feel like this is an attack on me and my roomates. Not only is she putting us in a financial situation, but now she is willing to try to get us evicted over this situation.
- I doubt that our landlord will evict us, thats not what I worried about.
At this point we are considering taking A to small claims court or maybe filling a civil suit agains't her. Do any of you have experience will similar situations?
Background informarion.
Myself, my girlfriend, her younger sister (lets call her S), and her sister's "best friend" (let's call her A) Move into a 4 bedroom house and sign a year long lease. We move in on April 15th. My girlfriend and I take the top of the house, and the two younger girls take the basement.
Flash froward to july 30th. A informs us that she wants to move out. She cites the reason of money as the primary issue. We try to come up with a plan, for her which would involve reduced rent but she refuses. She then moves out on August 15th.
We are requesting that she pay us 2 months rent (minus utilities), to help us untill we can put some money aside for the extra rent, or till we find a suitable replacement. A decideds that she doesn't want to pay that, and then refers me to craigslist and implys that it is my job to find a replacement for her.
I talk with my landlord and he decides to get involved and phones A and asks her to call him back. A then tells landlord that the reason for her leaving was really our illicit drug use.
So that is the situation.
- There is infact drug use in our household. She has no proof.
- I feel like this is an attack on me and my roomates. Not only is she putting us in a financial situation, but now she is willing to try to get us evicted over this situation.
- I doubt that our landlord will evict us, thats not what I worried about.
At this point we are considering taking A to small claims court or maybe filling a civil suit agains't her. Do any of you have experience will similar situations?
Komplex on
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1) Who's names are on the lease with the actual owner of the house?
2) If all four names are on it, then you should not be involved at all, should be the landlord.
3) If all four names are not on it, 3a) why not?, and 3b) then you're outta luck.
4) Some of this depends on what state/country/prefecture you're in, but generally this is true.
That is, if the friend didn't break a contract with their name on it, then yes that's jerky, but no judge is going to care without a signed agreement. Some areas give more weight to oral agreements than others.
edit: And clean up any signs of 'drug use' pronto.
Also I shoudl clarifiy about the illicit drugs. Both Sisters are regualr pot smokers. The former roomate("A") was well aware of this prior to moving in, and has indulged herself on a number of occasions. She basically told my landlord that she felt unsafe do to the use of illict drugs.
Tough shit for her, contracts exist for this reason. I don't see why its your problem and not your landlords problem though.
Fuck, you're in the clear if you aren't the landlord and she is on the lease... I'd think.
And don't be an idiot and tell the landlord "but she was one of the ones smoking pot!!!!".
A Sounds like a beeotch. Usually you will need to give at least 30 days notice, but it might be different in your parts.
Now are we talking sparking a doobie every now and then, or like people on the nod from mainlining horse?
Not that is makes difference, but just curious.
Clean up the house pronto in case the landlord drops by to chat, we used to call it policiing the "b"s. (Blunts, Bottles, Booze, Bongs etc..)
I would think that you are at least owed the months rent for August, but ....
You can later decide to sue her to get your money back, but is it honestly worth the effort? Also, because she didn't contact the landlord first with her issues about your "drug habits" and request to get off the lease, I don't think she'll have much of a case there. When did you contact your landlord about the fact she was moving out?
You are also responsible because signing a lease is like co-signing a loan. Her leaving is tantamount to everyone else breaking the lease as well unless you can find someone to take over her spot or pay her share of the rent. The landlord just wants his money, it's up to you to get it to him. It's not his problem.
I'd just find a new roommate ASAP (shouldn't be that hard) and split the costs of the extra month between the three of you just to never have to deal with this person again.
depends on the landlord i think. Technically if the 4 of them don't pay the agreed amount each month, they are ALL in breach of contract. Sounds like the landlord is reasonable though. it's not the landlord's problem, it's HER and the OP's problem. She needs to sublet her portion of the lease as well, if she's smart (which, it doesn't look like she is). if you wanted to be vindictive, she's leaving herself wide open for shenanigans being on a lease and not living there or paying rent (and pissing off the other people on the lease for that matter).
To be fair she paid for august rent. I should have mentioned that. We are seeking Sept/October.
As far as the landlord is concerned our rent is on time and we maintain the yard/house. So when it comes between my word and hers of drug use, I believe he will take my side.
Copious quantities of pot is smoked by my girlfriend and her sister. And on occasion a bit of blow has been done by people in the house. "A" was never forced or pressured into joining us, nore did we try to exclude her. For the cocain she was aware that it was done, but was never witness to any of the events. As a matter of fact she has never been in the house when it has occured.
It was never brought up as an issue. ever. At this point it seems like blackmail to me. She has been backed into a corner and now she wants to fight dirty.
It is your responsibility to pay rent (in full) on time, as your name is on the lease. If she breaks the lease (as she is doing now) and causes you financial hardship (you pay her share for a month while you find someone to take her place, since she didn't line anyone up), you can go after her for damages in small claims court.
IANAL, though.
You're kinda living in la-la-land here. She is legally responsible to pay through the lease, but so are all of you. Your recourse there is to take her to court and try and get it out of her, but is it really worth the trouble? She paid you the full month, you should have started looking for a roommate the second she told you she was leaving rather than sitting on your thumbs. While it was a shitty move on her part, this is also kind of your fault for not being proactive. You can find a new roommate in 10 days EASY. I got flooded with requests when I put an ad on Craigslist last month.
It isn't her responsibility at all. By assuming it was you've screwed yourself. You're the people who will be living with the new person, not her. Why would you want her to find you someone? :P
We have known this girl for a few years, and she was well aware of the recreational drugs that were going to be used. That in its self is not the problem. There are a number of factors as to why she has moved out, the "illicit drugs" is not the reason.
The rent will continue to be paid with our without her. Myself and my roomates feel that she should help us untill a suitable roomate is found.
By the way we are residents of canada if that makes a difference.
Here is the answer to all your problems.
If you really want to put the effort in, I'm sure you can, but honestly it's probably not worth it - especially if she gave you a month to find a new roommate, as I'm fairly sure that if you break a lease, you're responsible for paying the lease UNTIL they find a new tenant, and I think you have to make (at least a token) effort to find someone
No, the entire apartment is responsible for paying. You can sue the person who left, but like we've said, is it really worth the trouble? The OP could've already had someone in and they only would've been inconvenienced a small amount of time for the search on Craiglist. Instead they've chosen to drag it out for no reason that I can see other than sheer laziness (lay off the "copious" amounts of weed guys) or inexperience in the land of living on their own.
But I would like to hear from some other people now.
Edit*
I'm confused as to what you're looking for. Do you want advice on suing her? That seems like a much bigger time/money sink then just going on Craigslist and replacing her which would immediately solve all your problems. All your landlord is going to say is "Pay me my rent. I don't care how you do it.". You kinda screwed the pooch in court by having a house with open drug use in it AND you're talking about it on a PUBLIC FORUM. Not very smart.
Yeah, she's being kinda bitchy with the whole threatening to cry about illicit drugs and all, but really. You're seriously thinking of suing her? I personally think that asking for 2 whole months rent for a place she no longer lives in is excessive even if she is signed to the lease. It's not like she failed to pay for August and just left with all her stuff overnight without telling you.
This is not anywhere near as messy as you seem to think. She's moved out, and you're well rid of her and she of you. Find someone new to live with and forget about her.
On the front of finding a replacement, CraigsList is ok but it's often better if you can find someone you already know a bit. My wife shared a town house for awhile in college and a quick replacement roommate wound up stealing her mail, ordering a debit card in her name, cleaning out her bank account and then disappearing. I'm not saying that that will always be the case but the speed with which you find a replacement roommate does carry some risks.
Drugs are bad m'kay? One more reason just to let the abandoning roommate off the hook and just break off ties with her or what have you. You can clean the place up but I would suggest playing it safe and not creating a situation in which the room mate that left would accuse you of drug use, particularly the blow in front of a judge etc.
That is a binding contract that if they don't pay then the courts can make them pay.
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Compelling the individual members of the party to pay equitably is something the party has to do internally. In other words, if you rent with someone and they don't pay, you have to take them to court. Your landlord won't bother - he will generally attempt to collect from the occupants.
Also, the member leaving is not the entity bound by agreements to complete the lease - the entire party is the entity. In other words, replacing or collecting from the girl leaving is your legal responsibility, not your landlord's - unless the four of you signed a secondary agreement of some sort.
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Clarification - Where are you?
I am in England, and renting a house we each had a seperate contract for a proportionof the sum. So yes we are all on the lease as it were, but each was responsible for a specific portion of the rent.
What about her security deposit? Surely that can be taken for an additional months worth of her rental owings by the land lord?
You need to search for a room mate, better you chose than her anyway.
Clean the house of drugs. Significantly any communal areas.
Frankly, if you really were using in the communal areas, and that is why she felt uncomfortable and has decided to leave, then you shat on your own porch and deserve to clean up the mess.
Note, when picking a new flat mate, be aware that once again drug use in the house would quite possibly become a bone of contention. If I moved in with people who used and left evidence and/or I felt it was detrimental to my ability to live happily in said house, I'd warn them once to only use/abuse in their own space. Then I would happily call the police. That would apply equally if they were just repeatedly high in communal areas and acted in a way that made me uncomfortable/feel unsafe.
In other words. Drugs are bad. They have consequences. This may be a consequence. If so, get a new flatmate and learn todays lesson.
Small claims courts are fairly inefficient. It is in your interests to avoid the conflict. Trust me.
Finally, if you sue, and she has ANY evidence, photos on a mobile, texts, emails, comments on a forum, whatever. Expect not only to lose, but quite plausibly to get counter-sued for distress or some such shit.
Good luck.
Doesn't quite work that way on this side of the pond. Leases are signed together and the security deposit is one lump sum. Each person doesn't pay their own separate deposit.