Roommate Problems > Moving out.

[jhbball]

So, I live in a house with 4 other people, in a housed leased for 4. One of the roommates, who has been incrediby abrasive, decided she did want to continue living at this house during the summer, as she doesn't get along well with the 4 other people. I am the "5th" person living in the house, and thus techically, I shouldn't be living there. Though, it must be said that all 4 of these roommates proposed that I stay there to help lower the rent from month to month, so I agreed.

So now, summer is coming around, and the abrasive roomate decides that she wants to take off, and wants me to take over the lease. Which means 1) the amount I pay each month in rent increases about 100 dollars, and 2) I take over her security deposit (~1500 usd). Of course, this does not benefit my situation at all, so I declined a takeover of the lease. But, I DID offer to cover 90% of her rent while she was gone, so long as I didn't have to take care of the security deposit.

Well, she replied with two options for me. 1) I take over the lease in full or 2) she notifies the local "authorities" (that deal with leases and house inspections) that 5 members are living in this house.

My question is, is it totally LEGAL to threaten that kind of action if I don't take over the lease? I really know little about law, I was wondering if she is in the clear to do such a thing.

I do have another place to stay about a block away, so it's not a huge deal. But the situation is pretty irritating. Thoughts/comments?

Cliffs:

-Abrasive roommate moving out
-trying to force me to take over the lease
-threatening to call authorities about "5th person" in a 4 person house

 

[HN]

of course she can report it. but whether the authorities do something about it...i don't know.

 

[sixone]

Tell her to do it. If you have somewhere to go, she has nothing on you. She can report it, but there's nothing for her to gain by doing so.

Once she realizes her blackmail won't gain her anything, she'll probably drop it.

 

[TallBill]

She'd be blackmailing herself lol. She's the one who agreed to a four person lease, not you.

 

[Jeeebus]

From a lawyer - it's blackmail and it's illegal. You either turn someone in for a crime they've committed or you don't. You can't threaten them with turning them in to get something out of it. This may differ slightly depending on the state, but by and large it's fairly uniform.

That said, I doubt the cops/prosecutor is going to care about her or you. They have bigger fish to fry.

And no, you haven't committed a crime. Just using it as the extreme example.

 

[yllus]

There's nothing illegal about her reporting the house to the authorities (whom I assume would be the people the lease is with).

Tell her to go ahead and do it, just move what stuff you've got there out before the people she reports it to get a chance to come around. To be honest though, I sort of think that if you want to stay there, you should just take over the lease. You sound like a bit of a leech.

Edit: Whoops, I'd advise you take the words of the lawyer posting about me over my thoughts.

 

[Mill]

Tell her to report it, and then laugh when she gets sued or forced into paying her share of the lease even though she moved out (depending on what the lease says about breaking a lease).

That being said, you do sound like a bit of a leech. Cut your hair, hippy.

 

[Sphexi]

Tell her to report it, and temporarily move out, or arrange furniture so it doesn't look like you live there. She'll be gone soon anyways, so it won't matter.

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
From a lawyer - it's blackmail and it's illegal. You either turn someone in for a crime they've committed or you don't. You can't threaten them with turning them in to get something out of it. This may differ slightly depending on the state, but by and large it's fairly uniform.

That said, I doubt the cops/prosecutor is going to care about her or you. They have bigger fish to fry.

And no, you haven't committed a crime. Just using it as the extreme example.

Thought so.

Good thing BOTH of my parents are attornies in the state of Michigan.

Also, I'm not a leech, I pay full rent and utilities every month. I think it's simply unwise to put up money for a security deposit as I'll only be staying there 3 more months. If you met this person, you wouldn't be cutting her any slack either.

 

[everman]

Don't worry about it, anyone she tells won't care and she can't force you to pay anything.

 

[jhbball]

I'm not too worried about it, just irritated. Worst case, I move to a friend's house for a little while.

 

[theGlove]

how come the security deposit isn't split up between the 5 of you? 1 person has to pay it all?

 

[mrjminer]

Personally, I'd just ask the landlord if you can live there while paying the additional $100 a month, but without putting a security deposit down. Obviously, don't tell the landlord that you've been living there all along, but bring up that the likelihood of finding someone to take the other occupant's space is extremely low considering the current lease only (this assumes that the arrangement is one of those "you only pay for how many people are living there" situations, not just if there is a set amount of rent that's divvied up between the people there up to a maximum occupancy of 4 people).

If not, then try to argue based upon the security deposit of the other people living there wouldn't increase since there would be only three people there, so it really makes no difference whether you pay it or not. Also, it's not as if 4 people would do more damage than 3; one person can easily do the damage that 4 people could.

Btw... I wouldn't worry that much about the lady calling the cops on you. If she did, the circumstances under which she called the cops on you would come out and her blackmail would be exposed. Especially when considering that she's been OK with you living there for so long, maybe there's even some sort of accessory charge she'd get called on (if what you're doing is even illegal, I have no idea; the owner of the building has yet to request that you leave, so I don't know), as well. I doubt anyone is that stupid.

PS. I'm not a lawyer.

 

[PingSpike]

Just plant some heroin in her bedroom and call the cops on her ass. Show her how its really done. One things for sure, I wouldn't be entering into any agreements whatsoever with that turd.

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: theGlove
how come the security deposit isn't split up between the 5 of you? 1 person has to pay it all?

It was all paid to her, then she turned it in. She wants for me to cover the full amount, then return it the other housemates after moving out. Not going to happen.

 

[jhbball]

Just got off the phone my dad, this IS technically a legal form of blackmail. My father's advice: move out, call her bluff. Then she's stuck paying rent at her new place + the old place.

Not to mention it's difficult to find a sub-leaser willing to pay full-price for any place during the summer, which is what I was offering. I would actually lose money by helping her out. Now, I can probably sublease an apt for 400-500 less for the summer.


Also, I was thinking about locking my bedroom door, remotely connecting to my home pc, and blasting dragonforce @ 3am. Or, is that too immature?

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: jhbball

Originally posted by: theGlove
how come the security deposit isn't split up between the 5 of you? 1 person has to pay it all?

It was all paid to her, then she turned it in. She wants for me to cover the full amount, then return it the other housemates after moving out. Not going to happen.

Get the other housemates to pay their part, you pay your part. She's paid back, you take over a 1/4 share in the house, everybody is even.

 

[SirStev0]

I'd watch ... zoning people are dicks.

 

[imported_cheapdude]

Tell her if she doesn't accept your conditions, your next offer will be 10% less.

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: jhbball
Just got off the phone my dad, this IS technically a legal form of blackmail. My father's advice: move out, call her bluff. Then she's stuck paying rent at her new place + the old place.

Not to mention it's difficult to find a sub-leaser willing to pay full-price for any place during the summer, which is what I was offering. I would actually lose money by helping her out. Now, I can probably sublease an apt for 400-500 less for the summer.


Also, I was thinking about locking my bedroom door, remotely connecting to my home pc, and blasting dragonforce @ 3am. Or, is that too immature?

That's exactly what I would do. You're doing her a friggin favor by offering to cover her for the summer months. You're really in a perfect situation here. You can tell her where to stick it and move out with no repurcussions since you are not on the lease. Just move out and stick her with the rent. The only catch would be it seems you have to recover your part of the security deposit from her.

 

[imported_Baloo]

Absolutely do not take over her lease - technically, you can't anyways. Any deal would be between you and the other tenants, she is leaving, she has no say.

 

[Zolty]

Originally posted by: Baloo
Absolutely do not take over her lease - technically, you can't anyways. Any deal would be between you and the other tenants, she is leaving, she has no say.

not so, any agreement would have to be made between the landlord and the OP. If they OP did "take over the lease" he would sign a sublease agreement which absolves the original resident of their duty to pay for the place.

The OP is technically most likely just in violation of the lease with the landlord. Most leases have a clause that there may be no "guests" in the residence for longer than x days. What you should do is tell her tough sh!t and she should find a sub-lease and your current situation will stand. If she wants to go to the authorities that is her prerogatived. OP you owe her nothing.

 

[Tiamat]

call her bluff, move out. Laugh at her when she has to pay rent for new place and old place.

 

[JRich]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
call her bluff, move out. Laugh at her when she has to pay rent for new place and old place.

:thumbsup: