One month and GONE...

[clarityat3am]

So my roommate had her ex-bf (who lives in TX) over last weekend. Now she says in a month she's moving to TX. We've been in our apartment for a month and a half. What would you say would be reasonable for her to do given the circumstances and seeing as I'll definitely need a roommate to pay the rent? She doesn't want to take any of her furniture with her and asked if I wanted to keep it and I would like to, but after thinking about it, should she really be asking me to pay for it? Things like that. Anyway, give me the lowdown on what you think I should tell her and expect her to do.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Wow, I think a month is a bit short notice. How long were they talking about it for?

 

[digsy]

my housemate left a note yesterday saying he's moving out NEXT WEEK!
i hope he knows i'm not paying his rent next month and he's still under contract....
i always thought he was a bit of a twat, now he's proved it

 

[clarityat3am]

Well he came over last weekend *counts on fingers* so about 5 days I'm guessing.

 

[starsforu2]

So my roommate had her ex-bf (who lives in TX) over last weekend. Now she says in a month she's moving to TX. We've been in our apartment for a month and a half. What would you say would be reasonable for her to do given the circumstances and seeing as I'll definitely need a roommate to pay the rent? She doesn't want to take any of her furniture with her and asked if I wanted to keep it and I would like to, but after thinking about it, should she really be asking me to pay for it? Things like that. Anyway, give me the lowdown on what you think I should tell her and expect her to do.

A few thoughts...

It should be her responsibility to find a replacement roommate for you. If you can find one without her help, it's better for you (more likely you'll get along with someone you pick), but it's her responsibility to take care of replacing herself.

If she can't find a replacement roommate and you have to pay her share of the rent next month, then make a deal to pay her rent in exchange for the furniture she is leaving behind. If she wants to sell her stuff and pay you for next month, then she should do that. There is no way you should pay for the furniture AND pay the rent that is due because of her.

Do you have a lease? Who signed it? Did she contribute anything to the security deposit? How about the other bills in the apartment? Are they in your name or hers? Will you have to pay any of her bills if she skips out before it comes? (i.e. phone bill)

 

[u2bonogirl]

eek. She'll probably be back in a month begging to move back in
Since Ive never had a roomie I have no advice
Sell her stuff on ebay!

 

[clarityat3am]

Re: Re: One month and GONE...

A few thoughts...

It should be her responsibility to find a replacement roommate for you. If you can find one without her help, it's better for you (more likely you'll get along with someone you pick), but it's her responsibility to take care of replacing herself.

True. She's already offered to help, but I agree that it would be better for me to look, so I posted an ad myself.

If she can't find a replacement roommate and you have to pay her share of the rent next month, then make a deal to pay her rent in exchange for the furniture she is leaving behind. If she wants to sell her stuff and pay you for next month, then she should do that. There is no way you should pay for the furniture AND pay the rent that is due because of her.

I think she should pay her rent AND leave me the furniture since she doesn't want to move it anyway and I can't really afford to pay my bills and buy her stuff.

Do you have a lease? Who signed it? Did she contribute anything to the security deposit? How about the other bills in the apartment? Are they in your name or hers? Will you have to pay any of her bills if she skips out before it comes? (i.e. phone bill)

Yes we have a lease. We both signed it. We split everything including the security deposit. My name is on the electric bill and hers is on the DSL, so no big deal there. I actually haven't gotten a bill from said electric co, but I know it won't be much.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I living alone.

No one to look after, and no one to depend on paying their half of the rent.

Sorry about your situation, clarity.

 

[Sicy]

^ what she said.

I was very very happy when I lived alone!! It's great if you can afford it.

 

[*Ally*]

ugh, i WISH i lived alone...

good luck with your situation, Clarity!

 

[U2bpbear24]

that sucks... everyone said what i was thinking tho...


..geez, and i thought MY roomate was bad. lol

hope this all works out for ya!

 

[Carek1230]

I also living alone so as not to have to go through stuff like this. Good luck.....hope you and your roomie work things out. Get it in writing though!

 

[Liesje]

I've been shat upon so many times in similar situations when new people move in, we give them the rules follows...

If YOU are on the lease, YOU must either pay, even in your absence, or find your own subletter

If YOU are on the lease, YOU are responsibile for your fraction of ALL utilities, regardless of whether you were on vacation or studying abroad, or don't have a computer/TV.

If you for some reason are no longer obligated to pay or have a subletter pay, you've lost all your claim to the property and I will sell/keep/give away all of your stuff after two weeks.

The trouble is, neither of those rules are legally biding. Usually, a lease agreement covers the full amount of rent and you can have up to four people sign. That doesn't mean that everyone on the lease has to pay, however. The lease only gives those people claim to the property. Say four people are on a lease and two pack up and leave. The two that left aren't legally obligated to pay; the two left ARE legally obligated to pay the full amount.

What you should do is have her sign an agreement between the two of you that says she is responsible for finding a subletter and if she can't, or the subletter leaves as well, she will have to continue paying her part of the rent.

 

[clarityat3am]

I have a potential new roommate coming over this weekend. If this does work out and she seems ok where do I go from there? Do I tell the apartment complex that the current roommate is moving out and that a new roommate will be moving in and ask what they need for me to do? I've never had to do this before so if anyone could help me out here, that'd be great.

 

[melon]

The trouble is, neither of those rules are legally biding. Usually, a lease agreement covers the full amount of rent and you can have up to four people sign. That doesn't mean that everyone on the lease has to pay, however. The lease only gives those people claim to the property. Say four people are on a lease and two pack up and leave. The two that left aren't legally obligated to pay; the two left ARE legally obligated to pay the full amount.

Yes, you can get evicted if you don't pay the full amount, no matter if your roommates are morons. On the other hand, you can go to court and use the lease to sue your deadbeat roommates for any rent that they owe.

Still, it's a hassle all around.

Melon

 

[Liesje]

I have a potential new roommate coming over this weekend. If this does work out and she seems ok where do I go from there? Do I tell the apartment complex that the current roommate is moving out and that a new roommate will be moving in and ask what they need for me to do? I've never had to do this before so if anyone could help me out here, that'd be great.

Since your current roomie is on the lease, you should contact the landlord and ask what s/he would like to do. What we do is always have 4 on the lease, and each summer, 2-3 girls get subletters for three months while we're not in school. Our landlord doesn't care b/c she's rented this to college students for years and pretty much assumes most, or all, summer renters are subletters. However, if you want to be more formal about it, the landlord might need a sublease agreement. If not and no changes are made to ammend the current lease, I would write up an agreement between yourself, your current rommie, and the new subletter so that you don't get screwed.

 

[starsgoblue]

Roomates

I haven't been to my apartment in about three weeks because I'm scared I may murder my roomate... irresponsible and spoiled twat. I'm sure some of you have heard bout the cat situation...well when she brought ANOTHER cat home (it had worms mind you) and asked me if I wouldn't mind taking care of BOTH of them will she pranced around for the weekend I lost it.

Anyways, I digress....Be certain to let her know that if she or you can't find a suitable replacement before she leaves she is still obligated to pay her portion and tell her that you will take legal action if nessacary. And get a legit forwarding address.

 

[digsy]

fck fck fck
came home last night, my roommate has gone. vanished, cleaned out and less then 24 hours after he told us he was moving out.
thats fine i think, his deposit will cover the rent for next month so we dont have to panic about getting someone in immediately.
Nooooooooo - i get an email from my landlord this morning, turns out the guy didn't pay rent this month and his deposit has gone towards that. now my landlord says me and the other couple are responsible for his rent next month and if we dont pay it he'll use our deposits for it!
wtf??? can he do that?

fck that, i'm just not gonna pay rent next month, he can take my deposit and i'll move out end of the month having lost nothing.

what dicks, both of them!

 

[Liesje]

fck fck fck
came home last night, my roommate has gone. vanished, cleaned out and less then 24 hours after he told us he was moving out.
thats fine i think, his deposit will cover the rent for next month so we dont have to panic about getting someone in immediately.
Nooooooooo - i get an email from my landlord this morning, turns out the guy didn't pay rent this month and his deposit has gone towards that. now my landlord says me and the other couple are responsible for his rent next month and if we dont pay it he'll use our deposits for it!
wtf??? can he do that?

fck that, i'm just not gonna pay rent next month, he can take my deposit and i'll move out end of the month having lost nothing.

what dicks, both of them!

Depends on how the lease agreement is set up, but most likely he can do that and is entitled to sue for rent covering the remainder of the lease.

 

[digsy]

actually i figured it all out - because we all moved in at different times, even though its one piece of paper, we're all on separate tenancy agreements which mean each has its own rights and no one is responsible for anothers rent.

I've spent all morning on the phone trying to work this out, now i just need to put it "politely" to my landlord in an email... wanker

 

[clarityat3am]

I told my roommate that someone was coming to look at the place on Saturday and that she needed to find out what to do to make everything legit with the apartment complex. We shall see.

 

[starsgoblue]

I don't think I'll ever live with roomies again...

 

[WildHoneyAlways]

I don't think I'll ever live with roomies again...

Me either. The last time I had roommates one brought her german shepard/collie mix dog into our 4 bedroom college apartment. She never took care of her dog. she would have to put on a full face of makeup before she would take the dog out in the morning. (i'm talking foundation and mascara here. ) He poor dog couldn't hold it sometimes and peed on the floor. Her idea of cleaning in up was putting newpaper over it.

 

[clarityat3am]

Me either. The last time I had roommates one brought her german shepard/collie mix dog into our 4 bedroom college apartment. She never took care of her dog. she would have to put on a full face of makeup before she would take the dog out in the morning. (i'm talking foundation and mascara here. ) He poor dog couldn't hold it sometimes and peed on the floor. Her idea of cleaning in up was putting newpaper over it.

That's why some people shouldn't ever have pets! So selfish!

 

[Devlin]

And here I've been thinking to get a room mate..
I may just change my mind.

 

[clarityat3am]

UPDATE! My new roommate came over yesterday. I think it'll be easier to live with her than my current roommate. Time will tell for that, of course. She loved my dog and my little mental dog was actually calm in her arms. That never happens! She walked by my room and saw that I have an African Clawed frog and actually gasped in delight! I've never scored points for having a frog. She offered with absolutely no hinting to help out with my dog, like taking her out and such. That alone made me happy that she was going to move in. My current roommate won't take my dog out and the poor little thing can't hold it for that long! All in all, this is looking good right now.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Me either. The last time I had roommates one brought her german shepard/collie mix dog into our 4 bedroom college apartment. She never took care of her dog. she would have to put on a full face of makeup before she would take the dog out in the morning. (i'm talking foundation and mascara here. ) He poor dog couldn't hold it sometimes and peed on the floor. Her idea of cleaning in up was putting newpaper over it.

WTF!

That is just terribly cruel of her.

 

[U2Girl1978]

Thank god I've never had roommates.

 

[sonicsmurf]

I had one roommate who accidentally hit my car into the house I was renting. I live alone now, and enjoy it immensely.

 

[clarityat3am]

Ok, time for the big guns!

Ok, here's the deal. Last night my roommate came home and told me that apartment complex had called her and told her the girl that had applied to be my new roommate had decided not to go through with it. This is ok, I'd talked to her before. So I told my roommate that was my only prospect at the moment. She then went into this super bitch tirade about how she hated it here and she wasn't going to stay and a bunch of other shit and that "bottom line" we had to find someone or we'd have to break the lease. She was thoroughly nasty to me about it. Um...what? I'm not the one who decided to leave in a month and what the fuck? I'm already looking for a new roommate and there's no way I'm going to break the lease for this bitch. She sure as hell would pay for everything if that happened anyway. Where exactly can I find information about what she's legally obligated to do for me? I'm not going to screw around with her and be nice if she's going to be like this to me.